Out On The Road
by JustVilda Potter
Summary: Living Parents AU, where the Baudelaires and Quagmires haven't met each other. One day, Beatrice gets a phone call from Karen, and the next week the two families are off on a big road trip together. Very soon, the older kids fall for each other, which leads them into a mess of love triangles, sweet moments and drama between siblings.
1. 14 Years Since Last

**Hiya, ASOUE people. Seems like I'm back! At least a little, I don't know how frequently I will update. Anyway, this is a new story that I've just started in the genres Romance and Drama. Curious to find out what it is? Well then, just read it.**

**This is a Living Parents AU (meaning none of the unfortunate things happened. All went well that day they went to Briny Beach), and here are some important little things:**

_**The time period is after season 3. Not after The End though. So Violet's 15, the triplets are 14, Klaus is 13, and Sunny is 3.**_

_**Both the Quagmires and Baudelaires have told their children about the V.F.D., and all the secrets and stuff.**_

_**At the start, the Quagmire and Baudelaire children don't know each other.**_

**Now let's get into it!**

**Woohoo!**

* * *

On either side of Coastal Park town stood two mansions. One on Couture Avenue, and one on Fergman avenue. In the Couture mansion lived the Baudelaires, consisting of Bertrand and Beatrice, and their three children Violet, Klaus and Sunny. The Quagmires lived in the mansion on Fergman Avenue. They were a family of five as well, only that Quentin and Karen's three children were the triplets Isadora, Quigley and Duncan.

The parents in the respective families had known each other for decades. Bertrand, Beatrice, Quentin and Karen met at their boarding school Prufrock Prep, where they were all star-students. Pretty much everyone there liked them, the principal too to say the least.

When they left Prufrock after graduating, each of the by then young adults chose their career paths, while still remaining in touch with one another.  
Bertrand got into researching, and made millions from his discoveries.  
Beatrice picked up a career in hairdressing, while also pursuing free time hobbies of bat training and opera singing, which she soon chose over the hairdressing.  
Quentin and Karen (who got engaged a week after graduating) started exploring uninhabited land, making discoveries such as a giant sapphire cave, with sapphires now named "The Quagmire sapphires".

Not even two years after their graduation, the Prufrock principal found them, along with some other star-students (including the Snickets, Esmé Squalor, and Count Olaf). He started a secret organisation, whose purpose was to put out the literal and figurative fires of the world. The Volunteer Fire Department.

All was well, until the schism that divided the organisation into two sides; the fire-fighting and the fire-starting. Along the process, Ishmael disappeared, and .

Soon after, Quentin and Karen got married, while Bertrand and Beatrice got engaged. Not long after that, the newly wedded Baudelaires got pregnant, and left the V.F.D., and by doing that, losing contact with the Quagmires. Their daughter Violet was born seven months later.

It only took a little over a year after Violet's birth for Quentin and Karen to get pregnant. By the time they knew they were having triplets, Beatrice and Bertrand knew they were pregnant again.

Then there was of course the little afterthought Sunny ten years after Klaus was born, and three years after that is when this story starts...

* * *

Beatrice Baudelaire walked out of the kitchen in her family mansion. A tray of lemon muffins rested on her hands, and little Sunny (who helped her bake the muffins) happily skipped close behind her.

Together the two of them walked to the dining room, where Beatrice put the tray on the table.

"Violet! Klaus! We baked muffins!" she happily shouted for her older children.

The sound of sneakers against a wooden staircase and a door opening and closing were heard only seconds after she announced that there were muffins. Not long after that, the two older Baudelaire children entered the dining room.

Violet Baudelaire, dressed in a light blue shirt dress with whales printed on it, and a pair of goggles hanging around her wrist, and Klaus Baudelaire, wearing a button up shirt and khakis. Spotting the muffins on the table, they lit up. Beatrice and Sunny made the _best _treats together.

"Enjoy," Beatrice smiled at them, and gestured for them to take a muffin.

Violet and Klaus gladly grabbed a muffin each, while Beatrice helped Sunny get onto her chair, so she could also enjoy the dessert.

"Thank you, mother," Violet said while she carefully took the wrapper off her muffin.

"Thank you," Klaus thanked his mother as well, and Beatrice gave them both a look to say "You're welcome."

"Not just her," Sunny commented, frowning at her siblings while she struggled to get her muffin free from the wrapper.

"Thank you too, Sunny," Violet and Klaus added.

Sunny smiled proudly before returning to trying to figure out how to remove the wrapper.

"You're not eating all the muffins without me, are you?"

All the eyes fell on Bertrand as he entered the room with the question.

"Of _course_ not," Beatrice answered, while seating herself down in a chair.

A second later she turned to her children, and winked at them. They grinned, giggling under their breaths. Despite Beatrice's signal that they were gonna eat all the muffins without Mr. Baudelaire, he grabbed a muffin while passing by the table. The remaining family members watched as he walked out of the dining room, and away into the grand living room.

"Seems like your plan failed," Violet whispered when Bertrand was gone.

Beatrice answered with a nod, but was then interrupted by the kitchen phone ringing.

"I'll be _right back,_" she quickly told the children while she got up.

Hearing the ring tone getting louder and louder, she sprinted into the kitchen and grabbed it. A number that she didn't recognize were written on the screen. Usually, Beatrice wouldn't answer unknown numbers, but she had a weird feeling she should really take this call. So she did.

"Hello, you're speaking to Beatrice Baudelaire"

"And _you_ are speaking to Karen Quagmire," the voice on the other end replied.

Beatrice's jaw immediately dropped.

"Karen?"

"Yes," Karen ingeniously replied.

"Oh my gosh, Karen!"

All three Baudelaire children gave each other a confused look at their mother sounding like a teenage girl.

"I can't believe it!" Beatrice continued, before turning serious for a moment. "How are you calling me? We're not supposed to be in contact with each other"

"Quentin and I retired from the V.F.D.!"

"You did? Karen! Congratulations!"

Any other kid would probably get closer to the kitchen door to eavesdrop at this point, but the Baudelaire's were more respectful than that. Even though they were curious, and _wanted _to hear more, they kept themselves to their conversation and the muffins.

"It was a hard decision, but after we told the kids, it was just such a burden," Karen explained, sounding pretty exhausted just by the thought of all of it.

"I know the feeling," Beatrice sighed. She thought back to when she first found out she was having a baby. "Well, you and Quentin were stronger than us."

"Are you kidding me, Beatrice?" Karen asked in disbelief. "You at least had the guts to leave when you got pregnant. I raised three children keeping a huge secret from them!"

"I did too, Karen," Beatrice reminded her.

"Not while still working for the organisation."

"That might have been a little harder," Beatrice said laughing, and soon Karen was giggling too.

They laughed together for a few seconds. It was like nothing had changed. This phone call was similar to the conversations they had with each other fifteen years ago. It even took Beatrice a few seconds of laughing to remember that it wasn't _yesterday_ they saw each other last.

"So how are things going for you? You're holding up? How are the triplets?" she babbled out questions, not knowing which one to start with.

"Well, things are great. We still have the sapphires, we're looking for new; less dangerous, jobs, and the triplets are great!" Karen responded. "Isadora's gotten really into poetry, Quigley's drawing maps of everything, and Duncan is practically the youngest journalist in town," she paused for a second to smile at her kids in the library behind her. "So how are yours? I heard you had another one just a few years ago!"

"I did," Beatrice smiled at _her _kids in the dining room. "Her name's Sunny, and you already know about Violet and Klaus. My inventor, researcher... and...," she paused to increase Karen's excitement. "-chef!"

"She's cooking?!" Karen asked, amazed by the fact that a three-year-old was a chef.

"Like a real chef."

"That's incredible."

"I know. She helped me make muffins a few minutes ago, but I was practically just watching her do it on her own."

The two of them took a break to giggle at Sunny's cuteness.

"But Bea," Karen interrupted them after a couple of seconds. "I'm not calling just to tell you that we're not Volunteers anymore, but I've got a request."

"Go on," Beatrice nodded to herself.

"We've not seen each other in years, and our kids haven't even met," Karen started. "What do you say we do something about that?"

"That sounds wonderful."

"Quentin and I just bought a new minibus. What do you and Bertrand say about a little road trip with the children?"

"Again; wonderful."

"Then it's settled," Karen cheerfully said. "Time?"

"What about next week?" Beatrice suggested. "We meet at our place, Monday; 9am, and get back on Sunday."

"Perfect. We'll see you then."

"Bye Karen."

"Bye Bea."

Beatrice hung up the phone with a smile on her face. Her already sunny day had just gotten brighter. She turned and walked over to the wall calendar on the other side of the kitchen, and across the boxes representing the next week, she wrote;

_ROAD TRIP_

"Children!" she called.

Violet and Klaus got up, and on the way Klaus picked up Sunny.

"What mother?" Violet asked whilst they entered the kitchen.

"Do you remember the Quagmires? Mine and Bertrand's friends from the Volunteer Fire Department."

The three children nodded.

"We're talking about the Quagmires now?" Bertrand came through the dining room door. "What about them?"

"Karen just called me!" Beatrice revealed.

"No way," Bertrand smiled and shook his head.

"She did?" Violet turned to her mother, now smiling too.

"Her and Quentin quit the V.F.D."

"That's great!" Bertrand commented.

"I know!" Beatrice excitedly exclaimed. "And we're going on a week-long road trip with them next week!"

"A road trip? That sounds great," Klaus smiled politely.

* * *

After Karen hung up the phone in the Quagmire mansion, she sprinted into the library, where the rest of her family were hanging out.

"Quentin, children, come here," she gestured to the couch Duncan and Isadora were sitting on.

The family quickly gathered on it, cozying up with each other.

"You know the minibus me and Quentin bought a couple of weeks ago?" Karen asked the triplets.

"Yeah," Isadora said while the boys nodded.

"We're finally taking it on a road trip!" Karen revealed.

The triplets immediately lit up, and had their own quick mini celebration on the couch, consisting of a few happy words, and some bouncing.

"But we're not taking it alone," Quentin interrupted their celebration. He also knew the plan. "We're taking it with the _Baudelaires._"

"Seriously?" Duncan asked, smiling at the statement.

"As serious as day"

* * *

**Yay, that was the first chapter of this! I've got 5 ongoing stories now, and it's going to be increasing to 6 in a couple of days.**

**As people who read both my NRDD and ASOUE stories (VeronicaWeasley) have noticed, I've got a story about a road trip on NRDD as well. And now there's this road trip story.**

**Well, what can I say, I like road trips, and _a lot _can happen at them actually. Just think about all the possible outcomes of a road trip!**

**I hope you're excited for this story! It'll contain _a lot _of shipping, a love triangle, triplet drama, and just generally fun moments.**

**See ya!**


	2. Love at First Sight

**There is no way in hell that I can apologize enough for being this slow. Half a fricking year has passed since I posted this story. I've straight up tortured everyone who wanted to read this.**

**I am uploading now because today is my one year anniversary of writing on FanFiction.**

**Review Responses**

_**VeronicaWeasley **_**\- I am sad to say that I can't read minds. I can say though that I know what people wanna read.  
I've already thanked you for the correction, and now I'm also gonna thank you for the review! Even though you said please in your review, I didn't update quickly. Now I feel bad. But not too bad. I'm okay, I'm just mad at myself for not updating. I hope I make sense.**

_**Fizzydrop2000 **_**\- Of course I'm gonna continue! I just happened to continue slowly.**

_**Raven **_**\- I'm excited for the new story as well! I can assure you that there will be a lot of Kladora and Dunclet moments.**

_**Hello Panda**_** \- Your wish is my command. (After five months that is).**

**_Guest - _Thank you!**

**_CrazyFictionLove - _Ok, I will. It only took me three months to follow your command.**

**Chapter time! (Finally. How you've waited).**

* * *

The Quagmires stopped the minibus outside the ginormous Baudelaire mansion. Quentin and Karen got out of the driver and passenger seats, and the triplets hopped out one by one from the backseat.

They were on the side of the road, next to the black metal fence surrounding the Baudelaires' estate. Flower beds filled with different colored roses were strewn along the fence, everywhere except in front of the grand gate, considering that would be very inconvenient, and you would have to carefully step over the fragile flowers. Behind the gate was a big garden. A path led up to the big white building, and halfway to the front entrance was a beautiful fountain.

As the Quagmires walked up to the gate, they noticed it was slightly opened. All Karen had to do was give it a slight push, and it slowly opened, letting the family walk onto the path, and up to the door.

This mansion was much bigger than the one the Quagmires had, and it looked more like a royal living than a home for a usual, rich family.

Quentin was the one to ring the doorbell. A nice tone spread from the doorbell, and throughout the house, and very soon, quick footsteps grew louder and louder. There was a click from a lock, and Mrs. Baudelaire opened the door.

She wore a huge smile, from ear to ear, and looked absolutely delighted to see everyone; especially Karen.

"Karen!" she shouted happily.

"Beatrice!" Karen replied, and they went forward into a hug.

The triplets furrowed their eyebrows at their mother, then at each other. They were practically acting like teenage girls, and it was a strange sight.

"Oh my goodness, it's been too long," Beatrice said as the two women let go from the hug, but still held each others' shoulders.

"I know!" Karen nodded.

Beatrice let go of Karen, and turned her head to the triplets.

"I assume these are the Quagmire triplets I've heard so much about," she smiled at the Quagmire children. "Isadora, Quigley and Duncan."

"You are very correct," Isadora confirmed.

"Last time I saw you, you were just little babies!" Beatrice put her hands on Isadora and Duncan's shoulders. "You've grown so much, it's unbelievable."

"Thank you," Quigley smirked.

"Oh, no problem," Beatrice smiled back. "Do you want to meet Violet, Klaus and Sunny?"

"Yes, please," Duncan answered, nodding.

"Just go inside, I think they're in the living room; through the door on the right, Beatrice kindly instructed.

"Thank you, Mrs. Baudelaire," Isadora nodded once towards Beatrice as she entered.

Beatrice closed the door once Quentin, Duncan and Quigley were inside as well. She turned back to Karen, and let out a happy sigh.

"I just can't believe my eyes," she said.

"Don't worry, Bea," Karen replied. "I can't either. I can't believe any of this. Ever since we quit the V.F.D... everything's just been going perfectly."

"I get you," Beatrice said. "Life's so much easier without all that weight on your shoulders."

"We can't say we regret doing it though," Karen quickly pointed out.

Beatrice shook her head.

"I'm happy we were once part of it."

"I am too. It's been great."

"If it only hadn't been for the schism...," Beatrice looked distant for a second, looking back at old memories.

"Let's not talk about that," Karen requested. "It wasn't our fault."

Beatrice still felt that she was a bit lost in her memories, but she pulled the nod and smile routine.

"Yeah... Of course it wasn't," she lied to herself.

She knew very well the part she had taken in the schism. Beatrice had been the one to steal the sugar bowl from Esmé Squalor, and that part Karen knew. She also thought it was a rational decision. What Karen didn't know was that the poison dart that was the fuse to the bomb that was the sugar bowl, was thrown by Beatrice. Everyone thought Lemony Snicket had thrown it. But now Lemony Snicket was presumably dead.

"Let's get to some more important things," Karen said. "How have you been? It's been too long, we need to catch up!"

"Totally. I've been fine, mostly. Bertrand and me were both a little bit anxious until we told the kids about all that we've experienced, but now that they know, we're all fine," Beatrice explained.

"Oh, I felt the same," Karen began to tell. The two of them turned around, opened the door again and walked in.

Before that happened though, the triplets had walked in. A couple of minutes before the door was opened again, it was closed by Beatrice once the triplets and their dad were inside.

"I'm gonna head off and find Bertrand," Quentin patted Isadora's shoulder before walking off.

Even though it had almost been fifteen years since he last set foot in the mansion, he knew his way around like the back of his hand. The triplets were left alone in the hall, gazing around the big hall they were in. It was certainly fancier than the Quagmire mansion. To them, it didn't feel as homey or cozy, but it sure was beautiful.

"Want to go see the Baudelaires?" Quigley asked after a moment of them looking around in silence.

"Definitely," Duncan answered, and Isadora agreed with him.

The three of them turned to the right; as Beatrice's instructions led, and entered yet another big, beautiful room. This was obviously the living room, seeing as there were multiple couches and armchairs in there. The walls were lined with tall bookshelves, and there were several nice carpets on the floor, all in different, well thought out places. The main piece of this room was the grand fireplace though. It stood against the wall furthest away from the triplets, and had three couches in front of it. One in front and two on the sides. In these couches sat three children; one alone in one couch, and two others on another.

All the Quagmires could see of them at the moment was their hair. The boy of the group had short brown hair, the oldest girl had _long_ brown hair, and the toddler who was standing up in the couch had blonde hair.

"Hey there," Quigley spoke.

The three children on the couches turned their heads around. All of them immediately got kind smiles on their faces. They stood up from the couches, giving the Quagmires the ability to now see their faces and bodies as well.

The girl didn't only have long brown hair, but she had bangs as well. Her eyes were a beautiful light blue, and she wore a very pretty purple dress. As soon as both Quagmire boys saw her, they got a weird feeling inside of them. They felt as if a sudden swirl of butterflies swept right into their stomachs.

Isadora could definitely say the same about the Baudelaire boy. To accompany his brown hair, he also had brown eyes. He was dressed very nicely and properly in a button-up shirt and gray pants. He looked intelligent because of the glasses he was wearing.

The toddler girl was definitely smiling the most out of them. You could see her whole set of teeth through her grin, and she looked ecstatic to met them.

"Hi!" she waved her little hand at the triplets.

As the Quagmires' smiles grew wider, the Baudelaires walked over to them.

"How do you do?" the older girl asked happily.

"Great," Duncan breathed.

"How about you?" Isadora asked back.

"We're very well too," the boy answered.

"I suppose you're the Quagmires," the girl said.

"We definitely are," Quigley nodded.

"I'm Isadora, and these are my brothers Quigley and Duncan," Isadora introduced herself and her brothers.

"I'm Violet, and this is my brother Klaus and my sister Sunny," Violet responded, gesturing to herself and her siblings.

"It's nice to meet you," Klaus said.

"It's very nice," Isadora grinned.

"I'm gonna have to agree on that," Quigley stated.

"Me too," Duncan said. He was barely able to pull his eyes off Violet.

The five of them stood at looked at each other, smiles on their faces, for a few seconds, before Sunny interfered.

"Get a room," she rolled her eyes.

None of the older ones could keep back the giggles. When Sunny rolled her eyes again, it didn't help. The triplets, Violet and Klaus kept chuckling. Violet kept catching Duncan and Quigley slightly looking at her multiple times, and Isadora noticed the same thing about Klaus.

"I'm sorry about that," Violet grinned. "Sunny likes to comment things."

"You don't have to be sorry," Isadora told her. "She's funny."

"Tank you," Sunny nodded once to seem polite. The triplets smiled at her mispronunciation.

A short silence followed. Sunny crossed her arms, while the older children smiled at each other.

"Well...," Klaus said. "Welcome to our home."

He opened his arms as to show them the living room.

"Thank you," Isadora politely said.

"It's beautiful," Quigley stated.

"Would you like a tour?" Violet offered, and all three Quagmires nodded.

"As you may already know, this is the living room," Klaus, once again, gestured to the room they were in. "If we go through the door over there, we'll enter a hall which leads us to the kitchen and dining room."

The group of six walked down to the other side of the room, where a big door adorned the wall. Violet opened it, and it led them into a small room. It had two entry frames, one of which led back into the grand staircase room, and the other led into a kitchen. There was also a smaller door in there. Klaus picked that door for their next part of the tour.

They walked into a small, but cozy room. It felt different from the other rooms. It was less grand and more family-esque. A couple of desks, and a few bookshelves were in there.

"This is the smaller research room," Klaus explained. "Father and I spend a lot of time here."

"What do you do research on?" Isadora asked with interest in her voice.

"All types of things," Klaus answered. "I like to call myself a researcher."

"He _is_ a researcher," Violet cleared up. "And I'm an inventor."

"That's really cool," Quigley nodded to himself.

"Definitely," Duncan added, also wanting to make the impression of a respecting young man.

"Thanks," Violet smiled at both of the identical boys.

"What do you three do?" Klaus asked, now curious to know what their new friends liked to do for fun.

"I read and write poetry."

"I draw maps."

"I'm a journalist."

"Those all sound really fun," Violet said.

Then Beatrice and Karen appeared in the doorway.

"We're ready to leave," Karen happily said. "Are you?"

The children looked at each other.

"Yes, mother," Isadora answered.

"Then let's go!" Beatrice excitedly said.

Both of the grown women were still acting a bit like stereotypical teenage girls. Through the doorway they could see into the grand staircase and hall room through the entry way. Bertrand and Quentin stood there waiting. The children walked in a straight line from the research room to the hall. Klaus closed the door behind them.

"Are you ready to set off on this journey?" Quentin asked.

"Yeah, we are," Duncan snorted at his father's weird choice of words.

He was first out of the house, closely followed by his triplets, Klaus, Sunny and Violet. Their parents followed last, with Beatrice stopping to close and lock the doors to the mansion. While she did that, the Quagmires and the rest of the Baudelaires walked over to the big minivan parked outside the gate. Quentin jumped into the driver's seat, and Bertrand took the passenger. Karen sat down behind Bertrand.

Klaus and Isadora had a quick non-verbal conversation where they decided they were sitting next to each other. Sunny, who was at the moment in a phase where she constantly said "I can do it myself", sat down in the only seat without one right next to it. Violet didn't care where she sat, and just took the first empty seat she could find. Both Quigley and Duncan spotted this, and of course wanted that empty seat. Fortunately for Quigley, he stepped into the bus first, and so got the seat. Although Duncan didn't want to admit it, he felt a bit disappointed that he couldn't sit next to Violet. At the moment, he couldn't explain this disappointment, or why he even felt the great desire to sit next to Violet.

That would be explained later.


	3. The First Hours

**I'm trying to get better at updating again, so here's a new chapter for y'all! Already!**

**First off though, as always, ****Review Responses**

_**Fizzydrop2000 -**_** I'm also glad I finally updated, and I'm thrilled you like the story!**

_**VeronicaWeasley -**_** I can't wait either! We all know who's going to win, but still. It took a few weeks, but here I am again! And this time I'm here to stay!**

_**Lilliy (all three reviews) -**_** Of course I can write another one! Here you go, here's chapter three! Hope you enjoy. **

_**LOVEALL121 -**_** Hey! Thanks, I'm glad you like my name. Thank you so incredibly much! My favorite compliment to receive is one about my writing style. Thanks again! Certainly, I will post again. Here's chapter three, soon you'll have chapter four, and five, and six and so on.**

**Now to the story!**

* * *

_We've just driven out of the city in the minibus. None of us really know where we're going; we're just going to see where the road takes us on this road trip. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun. The Baudelaires seem like amazing people as well, which is certainly a bonus. Already I feel like I like them better than some of the friends I already have. _

_Although at the moment I'm not really able to talk to any of them. I'm sitting alone, involuntarily. Klaus and Isadora are talking constantly, Sunny's singing to herself, and Violet's sitting next to Quigley. I don't know why, but it feels wrong to me. I keep looking up at them, for some reason kind of hoping they're not talking and having fun. They always are. It's like they find everything each other say fun in some way. _

_I don't like it. I don't know why, but I don't want Violet to be sitting with Quigley. _

These are some of the first notes Duncan wrote in his commonplace book at the start of the road trip. He had written some about the beautiful nature outside of the busy city, and some about ideas on what to do on this trip. Everything he scribbled down about Quigley and Violet were by far the longest notes. He wrote almost an entire page, but most of it was just repeating the same things.

While writing, Duncan discreetly looked up at them constantly. Each time he would see them talking, and one or both of them were laughing some of the times. Every time he would get a weird feeling in his stomach. He couldn't name it, he could only say that he didn't like it at all.

He was the only person in the minibus who was not having a good time though. Violet and Quigley talked and talked, getting to know each other well. Klaus and Isadora talked even more enthusiastically about everything that popped into their minds. Mostly they talked about poetry and reading. Karen and Beatrice still talked like they were eighteen and were having a gossip night. These grown women were not gossiping though, they were catching up, and although some of it contained gossip about their respective husbands and children, most of it was just regular chatter (in a very excited tone of voice). In the driver's and passenger's seat, Bertrand and Quentin were also catching up, but not nearly as loudly.

Duncan closed his commonplace book after writing a couple of pages. He sighed, and unwillingly let his head turn to Violet and Quigley again.

"Mother says I've liked inventing things ever since I first received something I could put together," Violet explained.

"And what was that lucky thing that got to sail your passion?" Quigley asked (Duncan thought it sounded extremely cheesy).

Violet giggled to herself.

"It may not be what you think," she warned. "It was a puzzle with eight pieces."

They both began laughing, and Duncan turned his head away. The feeling in his stomach was back.

"I don't even know when I got into cartography," Quigley stated with a nonchalant tone to his voice.

Not even five seconds after turning it away, Duncan snapped his head right back to looking at his brother and new friend.

"We were eight, still in public school, and we got an orienteering assignment. You were the only one in the class who could easily read and understand the map," he quickly explained.

Violet and Quigley both turned their heads.

"You have a good memory," Violet smiled.

Duncan looked down and hoped his cheeks didn't turn too red.

"I think it's a combination of that and the fact that I wrote it down in my notebook," he shrugged, still avoiding eye contact.

"Then I guess you've been a journalist for a long time," Violet said. "If you wrote that down when you were eight."

"Father says both me and Isadora picked our passions up when we were six," Duncan looked up.

He convinced himself to be polite, and actually look at Violet when he talked to her; whether he was still blushing at the compliment or not.

"It took Quigley an extra couple of years to find what he liked doing," Duncan smirked.

"We didn't really have maps in our house," Quigley made sure to tell Violet. "There was plenty of poetry books and notebooks."

"Of course there was," Violet said. "A secret organisation who work to put out fires need to have knowledge about things."

"And they need cover jobs," Quigley added.

"Like a journalist," Duncan said.

"Or a cartographer," Quigley nodded to himself.

"An inventor," said Violet.

"A poet or a researcher," Klaus and Isadora seemed to have heard that they were talking about the V.F.D., and joined their conversation.

"Sef!" said Sunny. She mispronounced the word _chef_.

"Definitely Sunny," Violet giggled at her little sister.

"It's all astonishing; what they've done and what's happened around this city," Klaus said. The look is his eyes told the others that his mind was going through all the amazing things their parents had accomplished.

"It definitely is. We could barely believe it when mother and father told us," Isadora said.

"Nothing in their story is something you would truly believe the first time you hear it," Quigley said.

"Especially the schism," Violet said. "Just to think that some people would go as far ar to start throwing poison darts at each other over a stolen sugar bowl."

"Some people are willing to do anything to complete a tea set," Beatrice suddenly joined the conversation, but she didn't sound like herself. She sounded cold. "I wouldn't be surprised if Esmé Squalor was willing to watch children burn at a stake if it meant she could flee and get the sugar bowl."

"You never told us what was in that sugar bowl," Klaus said.

Beatrice was silent. Her eyes focused on the seat before her, but her mind was going fast as she thought of the night of the schism.

"The contents of the sugar bowl is top secret V.F.D. information," she said hollowly.

"You're not in the V.F.D. anymore. Can't you tell us now?" Duncan asked.

He started pulling his commonplace book out of his pocket, half controlled, half on mechanical journalist instincts. Right after Quentin and Karen had told them about their past, he had spent half an hour in the triplets' bedroom, writing everything down. There was still one blank space where he wrote about the sugar bowl. He knew how important it was, that it originally belonged to Esmé Squalor, and that it was the start of the schism. At the bottom of the page stood one word, followed by colons and an empty space.

_Contents:_

"There are people in the V.F.D. that can do terrible things to people who walk around talking about the organization," Karen now started speaking. Her voice also sounded distant and very serious. She turned around to face the kids. There was a worried glint in her eye. "If they found out we've told the organization's top secret, we don't know what can happens to us... or you."

The children all made an effort to look at each other, but mostly didn't succeed because they were in a minibus and couldn't look through the seats. Suddenly the atmosphere in the minibus was tense. They were all quiet. Violet looked out the window on her side, Sunny started fingering her dress, Duncan looked at the blank space where he hoped he would one day write down the contents of the sugar bowl, and the rest of them sat and looked around awkwardly. Beatrice thought about the schism, and how everything had gone so terribly wrong that night at the opera. Throwing that poison dart at Olaf's father was the biggest mistake of her life, but no one but Lemony Snicket knew that it was her who threw it.

It took a few moments, but soon they were all back on track. Isadora and Klaus started a new eager conversation, Beatrice and Karen began telling each other stories about the kids when they were younger, and Quigley continued talking to Violet. Duncan quickly made sure to join the conversation, which Quigley didn't seem ecstatic about. Violet was pleased though, and that was enough to put a smile on Duncan's face in the moment, and the multiple moments to come during the first minibus ride.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Quentin pulled into a small campground Bertrand found the directions to. The Quagmires were very prepared for this trip, and had packed everything that could come in necessary. This led to the ten people on the road trip putting up five tents. Violet was very effective in the process, while the other children were anything but effective. They struggled, failed, tried again, failed again, made one more effort, gave up, and let Violet put up all of their tents. All while Bertrand, Beatrice, Quentin and Karen watched with smiles on their faces.

If the fact wasn't obvious, they were going to sleep two in each tent. Karen and Quentin sharing a tent was just as much of a given fact as Bertrand and Beatrice sharing one, but how they were going to divide the children was not as obvious. This led to the conversation you're about to read.

"One of us need to share with Sunny," Klaus said, referring to himself and Violet.

"Which means two of us have to share," Duncan said, gesturing at himself and his siblings.

"Do you think you two could?" Isadora asked her brothers.

Duncan and Quigley looked at each other. Normally, they would have agreed immediately, but now both of them felt a weird hesitation.

"Sure," Duncan ended up answering.

"That leaves you to share with one of us, Isadora," Violet said. "You could share with me if you want."

"That sounds great," Isadora smiled.

"Then I'll take Sunny," Klaus said.

Violet, who had been carrying Sunny, handed her over to Klaus.

"We'll meet out here in a few minutes," Quigley suggested.

The others agreed, and they went into their three tents with their respective luggage.

"You said earlier that you were interested in poetry," Violet said as she and Isadora entered their tent.

"Oh, I definitely do," Isadora smiled.

"Do you write it yourself?" Violet asked.

"Yes. I mostly write couplets," Isadora explained.

"I think Klaus has told me what those are," Violet said.

"Well, he certainly _knows_ what they are. We talked about poetry for at least ten minutes in the minibus," Isadora said, giggling.

"You seemed to be having fun," Violet stated.

"We were. He's really nice. So are you, _and_ Sunny."

"You and your brothers too."

"Thanks," Isadora grinned widely.

"I'm looking forward to getting to know you three better," said Violet.

Isadora looked up.

"Me too," she said. "I think this really will be a great road trip."

While the words Isadora said would turn out true in the end, none of the Baudelaires or Quagmires would be able to say that every moment was wonderful. Especially Beatrice, who had been forced to revisit an old memory, and was now placed in front of a big dilemma. She had to decide whether she would finally tell the truth about the poison dart that caused the schism or not...


	4. A Plain Walk in the Forest

**Hey, I'm back already! This isn't like me recently; what's happened? Well, I've gotten really into this story. Monologue over. **

**It seems I'm not the only one who likes this story, so I bet you're all happy that I'm updating more frequently. I am too. It feels good. Now before I lead you into chapter four, I have to respond to the reviews left on chapter 3!**

_**LOVEALL121**_** \- Thanks for saying the chapter was lovely! I can assure you that there will certainly be a lot of Dunclet moments in here, but not yet! We all know that not all in fun, wonderful and happy in the ASOUE world... I completely agree with you. I would want more Dunclet fics in the fandom, and that's part of the reason why I like to write them myself!**

_**VeronicaWeasley - **_**Indeed he is! Ranting is a good way to let your feelings flow, so yes, that was good for him to get to do that. I'm very happy about Kladora and Dunclet. But it won't be like that all the time in this story...**

_**u dont need know -**_** Love this review. Read it; laughed out loud. I guess I better write another chapter now... because I don't wanna be smacked.**

**Now let's actually get to the story!**

* * *

After struggling to put their tents up, bringing their luggage in there and getting comfortable, neither the children nor their parents knew what they wanted to do. They had no real planss, and only knew they did not feel like spending another few hours in the minibus. Luckily, Duncan remembered that he wrote a list of things of possible things to do in his commonplace book. He quickly pulled it out of his pocket and told them what he had written.

"I just remembered that I wrote a list of possible things to do in my commonplace book," he said as he began flipping through the pages to find his latest notes.

"That's great," Violet said. "What did you write?"

Duncan reached the page where the short list was written. On the page next to it, his ranting thoughts about Violet and Quigley were scrambled down. His smile faded a bit.

"Are you alright, honey?" Karen asked, sounding worried.

Duncan wasn't quite sure what to answer, so he just nodded, and mumbled "yeah...". He then began reading his suggestions.

"We could go on a walk through the forest, play some games in our tents, explore the area or just have a nice conversation," he recited.

"All of those sound wonderful," Bertrand complimented Duncan's list, to which Duncan responded by smiling.

"Can I see the list?" Isadora asked. "I want to read it myself."

"Of course," Duncan answered.

He looked down at the page beside the list; the one with the ranting, and hesitated. Then he folded the book over, and turned only the page with the list to Isadora. She read through it diligently. She decided not to show it, but she was a bit suspicious. None of Duncan's notes had ever been secret before, so why was he all of a sudden not showing her this one page.

"Taking a walk sounds nice," Beatrice said.

"_Walk_?" Sunny asked, sounding tired already.

"Don't worry, Sun, I can carry you," Beatrice told her toddler.

Sunny grinned in approval.

"What do you say?" Karen looked at the others. "Walk through the forest?"

Everyone agreed it was the best idea except Bertrand and Quentin, so they decided they would stay with the minibus to guard the tents. Everyone was happy with the idea, and most of the people in the group went to find a good track to follow. It was as easy said as done, and in a few minutes they were following a track made for campers staying at the campsite. They divided themselves into the same couples (and group of three as they did on the bus) almost automatically. Karen and Beatrice took the lead, followed by Klaus and Isadora a few meters behind them. Yet another few meters behind those two, Duncan, Quigley and Violet walked. They were all caught up in their own conversations, and it was a very nice walk. They were all happy with their decision.

"We were in a public school until fourth grade," Isadora told Klaus. The two of them held a conversation that flowed like a river. They were never quiet.

"Why did your parents start homeschooling you instead?" Klaus asked, truly interested in everything Isadora had to say.

"All our teachers thought our behavior and minds were really proper and great. They wanted to move us to a boarding school called Prufrock Prep, but mother and father were both very against it."

"I understand that. I read about that school when I was researching what type of school produced the most successful students. I can tell you with all my confidence that Prufrock did not win," Klaus explained.

"What school did win?" Isadora asked.

"Home school; when it's taught by experienced, intelligent people," Klaus informed.

"So what we have?" Isadora smiled.

"Yeah...," Klaus snorted quietly. "What we have?"

Isadora saying "_what we have_" made him smile inside. He knew she meant what himself, her and all the others had, and not only what the two of them had together, but the sentence was just a nice one in his mind.

A few meters behind the two, Violet, Quigley and Duncan walked. They too, were in the middle of a conversation, but theirs wasn't about school; they were talking about the V.F.D. again.

"I remember feeling so starstruck when they told us," Duncan said. "I couldn't believe that's what they had been doing all these years."

"I can imagine. Mother and father quit already before I was born," Violet responded. "We didn't have to deal with them going away for weeks at a time."

"Months, sometimes," Quigley told her. "Once when we were nine or something, they didn't come home for two months."

"That must have been hard," Violet said with an understanding voice.

"It was," Duncan said, at the same time as Quigley said: "Not that hard."

The two brothers looked at each other.

"Come on, we had Andrew," Quigley sneered.

"Our butler is not the same as mother and father," Duncan answered, souding a bit irritated and offended.

"I meant that we weren't alone," Quigley rolled his eyes.

"That's not what it sounded like you meant," Duncan looked away, still a bit annoyed.

"Okay, you guys," Violet stopped them. "You've got different opinions about those months, but that doesn't matter now."

Quigley and Duncan exchanged one last look before they got back to talking to Violet.

"What would you say was the most interesting thing to find out about?" Quigley smoothly started up the conversation again.

"All the things they invented," Violet quickly answred. "I would have loved to one day be in one of the V.F.D. inventing labs myself."

"You wouldn't mind if I was there with you, would you?" Quigley smirked.

Violet giggled a bit. "Definitely not."

At that moment, Quigley felt a rush of happiness run through his body. He had flirted like this with many girls before, but he had known within himself that he wasn't serious with it at all. He didn't care one bit of any of those girls liked him, which could be seen as kind of rude. However this time, with Violet, he wanted her answer to be yes for more reasons than avoiding an awkward situation.

"I would want both of you, and Klaus, Isadora and Sunny with me in the V.F.D.," Violet continued. "That is if I wanted to join."

"Definitely. With the schism and the fire-starting side still going on, I don't see a particular desire to join," Duncan said.

"If there was a noble and important reason to join, I would," Quigley stated. "If I ever were to lose someone important that is. I'd do anything to find them."

"That's very brave of you," Violet complimented him with a smile on her face.

"Thank you," Quigley smiled back.

Their conversation continued the same way throughout the walk. All five of the children had a great time getting to know each other, and they really felt like they had been friends for years and years. They did have friends back at home, but none of them felt like this. The bond these children had with each other after only a few hours felt as if they were always meant to know each other. It was as if fate had planned for them to know each other since childhood, but an unfortunate series of thefts, murders and a schism, and a hasty decision to leave a secret organisation made that impossible.

Karen and Beatrice felt the same way about the situation. Beatrice's decision to leave the V.F.D. an move to an islan with her newfound love, Bertrand, had caused thr two friends to not see each other for multiple years. Neither Beatrice nor Bertrand had gotten to meet any of their friends from the organisation due to secrecy. When Karen and Quentin had kids, they were barely allowed to meet their old friends either. The only thing they had left was their memories.

"Do you remember that time when Josephine fought an alligator?" Beatrice excitedly asked.

"Oh, how could I forget?" Karen choked a little laugh. "She managed to win. I don't think any of us will ever forget that day."

"It's unfortunate that is was so long ago," Beatrice said, now a little lower and less cheerful. "I miss them all an inordinate amount."

"We need to try to get in contact with Josephine again," Karen decided out loud.

"But Karen, the secrecy" Beatrice reminded her.

"No one's seen Ishmael for years Bea," Karen grinned. "We're safe enough to meet our old friends."

Beatrice nodded slowly and quietly.

"I guess you're right," she shrugged. "We need to find Josephine right when we get home. I need to see if she's still as brave, fierce and formidable."

"We could find Monty too," Karen said. "See how all of his reptile's are doing."

"And Jaquelyn. I heard her cover job is as a banker."

"It's crazy to think about all the things they all might have accomplished in the recent years."

It was crazy indeed to consider all the possibliites of what their old friends had accomplished. The families they could possibily have started, the passions they could have picked up and the discoveries they could have made. Discoveries about new reptiles, new science theories, and discoveries about old secrets. Discoveries about anything except who really threw the poison dart that killed Olaf's father...


	5. Initials

**I don't have anything interesting to say so I'm just gonna get right into Review Responses!**

_**VeronicaWeasley - **_**Yay indeed! (Have I written that a lot of times before, because I feel like I have).  
The raised by butler thing was actually a coincidence. I needed something for them to talk about, and I improvised. I guess it was somewhere in the back of my head, and I wrote it down without thinking that it was familiar, as you say. This explanation-thing was way too lengthy.  
Thank you. Thank you very much. Actually, it didn't mean that, but it definitely might now. That was (again) something that I threw together as a random conversation topic. That entire chapter was pretty much just random things I threw together to make conversations. This story has a new place to head...**

_**VfdAgent**_** \- First off, great name! Secondly, thank you so much! Here's your continuation.**

_**Number Ten**_** \- Family secrets indeed...**

* * *

Later the same day as they all met up, the sun started to set. Pink, purple and orange colors filled the sky, and made the view extremely aesthetic; a word which here means beautiful. The trees fluttered their leaves in the calm evening wind, and all the people at the small camp were going inside. The walk the Baudelaires and Quagmires had been on ended up being a long one, and they walked on a long forest trail for almost two hours. Then they ate some hot dogs they cooked over a small camp fire. It was a very cozy evening.

At almost 9:30 pm, the group decided it was time to go to sleep in their tents. They divided themselves into their groups, and told each other good night before going into the tents. Sunny fell asleep the fastest, which should be a surprise to no one, seeing as she was a three year old toddler at the time. She was closely followed by her and her friends' parents. Klaus did as he had done many times before, and stayed up with a book he had brought with him. Duncan and Quigley had a pleasant conversation in their tent. Isadora and Violet did the same, because they had not had a great chance to get to know each other well, since they had spent the entire day with each others' brothers.

First they talked about their interests; poetry and inventing. That changed to general topics like favorites and fun questions. Then, like they had done many times before, they got back on track on the V.F.D. discussion. This time they both felt able to speak about things they hadn't before, and in turn, this made them realize how much their parents had not told them about the organisation.

"I heard mother mention someone named Ishmael on our walk," Isadora stated. She rested her head on her crossed arms on the sleeping bag she was lying on. "Do you know who that is? She mentioned how they could meet their friends because he hasn't been seen."

"I have no idea," Violet answered. "He could be anyone. Fire starter, leader of the schism, or just a normal member who wasn't fond of them."

"I think he has an important part in the organisation, otherwise he wouldn't be able to control them like that," Isadora said. "We'll have to ask them tomorrow. Until then it's just yet another mystery."

"Like the contents of the sugar bowl," Violet said. Her eyebrows then turned down and she looked at Isadora. "Mother and father never told us who has the sugar bowl now..."

"No one's quite sure where it is," Isadora explained. "Father said Lemony Snicket was going to hide it, but after he left, no one ever saw him again. He returned, and died before he got the chance to meet anyone else."

This conversation about the mysteries of the V.F.D. continued for a while. The girls discussed theories about what could be inside the sugar bowl, but soon they just started joking and having a good time. Isadora checked the time and noticed how late it was. That was what finally put the girls to sleep, as the last ones to doze off on the campground.

* * *

The next day played out almost exactly like the first one, meaning it was pleasant, fun and filled with happiness. Now, I am not going to go into detail about the second day, because nothing extraordinarily special happened on that particular day. Instead, I am going to summarize it for you before moving on to the third day, which was certainly special.

On the second day, the two families got back in the minibus right after eating breakfast. This time Duncan made sure he got on the bus before Quigley, and therefore got to sit with Violet. They had a nice conversation, which Quigley joined almost right away. Isadora and Klaus sat together again.

They stopped at another, this time a little bigger, campsite to plan where they would head next. The decision was made that they would stop in a nearby town the next day. They would sleep at the campsite. To entertain themselves for the rest of the day, they found a nice beach, where they swam a bit. After a while, they got tired and went up to sunbathe and relax on the sand. Almost everyone fell asleep, but Duncan did not. He spent some time writing things in his commonplace book. Most of them ended up being about Violet, but this time he did not write about his jealousy of her and Quigley.

When night came, the group went to go to sleep in their tents. Sunny made a sudden decision that she wanted to share with Violet instead of Klaus this night. This meant Klaus and Isadora had to share a tent, a fact which neither of them complained about. Violet and Duncan both smiled at it, but Quigley was a little unsure if Isadora really should share with Klaus.

Everyone fell asleep happily while looking forward to the next day.

That brings us to the third day of the road trip, which was the day when things took a bit of a turn...

* * *

It was Wednesday. The sunrise awoke most of the sleepers in the families, but some chose to let themselves sleep in before they got up. Sunny was the one to rush everyone out of bed once she got hungry and wanted to make breakfast. Klaus, Isadora and Quigley were happy to help her make some scrambled eggs. Violet went to talk with the grownups, and Duncan stayed in his and Quigley's tent and wrote some more things in his notebook.

"How can a toddler make better scrambled eggs than I ever have?" Quigley asked, grinning, when he looked at the finished meal Sunny had made.

"Bad cook," Sunny said simply while looking at Quigley with a disapproving look. She went to put the traveling frying pan with the eggs on a picnic table a few meters away.

"Excuse me?" Quigley pretended to be offended.

Sunny looked back and giggled.

"It's true though," Isadora pointed out. "He can barely cook pasta," she whispered to Klaus.

"I can hear you, you know," Quigley said.

"It's true!" Isadora once again said.

"It was one time, to be fair," Quigley defended himself.

Isadora shrugged, and made a gesture that could be interpreted as a way to say "so what?"

"Wait, wait, now I wanna hear about this," Klaus said, intrigued and curious. "What happened that one time?"

"We were going to make dinner for mother and father's wedding anniversary, and Quigley was going to make pasta. He started boiling the pasta, but then he got wrapped up in some maps, and forgot all about it," Isadora explained as if she was telling a very interesting story. "That's how you make mushy, overcooked pasta."

"That doesn't mean I can't cook pasta though; it means I got distracted," Quigley said, still defending himself.

"It means you're too invested in cartography," Isadora teased.

Quigley made an ugly face directed at her. Then Sunny came back and interrupted them.

"Food's ready, get everone," she said. It meant that the food was ready and the others were to get everyone else.

Klaus went to get Violet and their parents, Isadora stayed and Quigley went to his tent to get Duncan.

"This looks delicious, Sunny," Isadora said as she sat down at the picnic table.

"It is," Sunny nonchalantly responded.

"You've made scrambled eggs before?" Isadora asked.

Sunny responded to this by rolling her eyes and saying;

"Of cawse I have!"

"Then I'm sure you're right, Sunny," Isadora said, grinning at the toddler's attitude.

Quigley and Klaus came back with the rest of the lot.

"It smells great, Sunny," Violet said as she sat down at the picnic table.

Sunny smiled from ear to ear.

"Indeed it does," Duncan nodded to himself.

"Enjoy!" Sunny burst out as she threw her hands up into the air.

Everyone got their portion of scrambled eggs, and when they tasted it they could all agree that Sunny was right in saying it was delicious. Together the families enjoyed their meal and a nice conversation.

"What will be be doing in the town we're going to?" Violet asked.

"We were thinking we'd eat at some nice restaurant and see if there are any fun places for entertainment," Quentin answered. "That's the point of a road trip, isn't it?"

"Part of the point," Klaus half corrected, half agreed. "The point of a road trip is to ride around in a car or other vehicle with your family or friends and enjoy attractions on the way."

"You're very correct," Karen nodded to Klaus.

"Didn't we bring some bread to eat for breakfast too?" Bertrand asked, ending the road trip conversation.

"We did. It should be in the trunk of the minibus," Karen informed him.

"No, it's in mine and Duncan's tent. I brought it there last night for a late snack," Quigley revealed. "I'll go get it."

He began trying to find a way to get off the picnic table, but was stuck between Duncan and Klaus. If you've been in the same situation, you can probably imagine that it was hard to get away. If you haven't though, you can still probably imagine it.

"I can get it for you, that'll be easier since I'm sitting at the end of the table," Violet volunteered.

"Well, thank you," Quigley said.

Violet smiled at him before she easily stepped away from the picnic table. Then she went to the minibus and the tents, which were only about fifteen meters away. The second tent from the right she was pretty sure was the tent Duncan and Quigley slept in, so that was the one she went into. She knew she was right when she spotted the bag of bread rolls in the corner. She crouched down to grab it. As she did, something else caught her eye. In Duncan's sleeping bag lay his cmmonplace book, open on a page that was mostly blank. Violet could see something was written in the middle though. Most of the page was covered by the sleeping bag, so she couldn't see what it said. Violet knew she shouldn't look, as the book wasn't hers, but a sudden curiosity hit her, and she felt that she just had to check what it said. She turned her body towards the sleeping bag and pulled it off the book. Four simple letters adorned the page.

**D.Q.**

**V.B**

Immediately, Violet got a smile on her face. She found herself looking at the letters, reading them over and over in her mind, her smile getting wider each time. Until she remembered she was only there to get the bread. She picked the bag up, and went out of the tent.

"I have the bread here!" she shouted to the rest of the families and friends.

She ran the few meters left, and put the bread bag on the table. Bertrand reached out for it the second Violet wasn't holding it anymore.

"Thanks Violet," Quentin said.

"No problem. I'm happy to help," Violet replied.

The group kept eating their breakfast and having their conversation like normal, but Violet's mind was on other tracks. She thought about what Duncan had written in his book, noticed how she kept looking up at him over and over again, and her mind just wouldn't leave the subject. She didn't complain about it.

* * *

An hour and a half later all their things were packed again, the tents were dissembled, and everything was loaded into the minibus. This time Sunny didn't want to sit alone, but immediately claimed the seat next to Violet. This led to the older kids making some arrangements. Isadora chose to sit with Violet, and so Klaus, Duncan and Quigley sat down together, with Klaus on the other side of the little aisle in the middle. The adults agreed that Beatrice would drive this time, as both her and Karen had gotten tired of the seats further back.

Violet and Isadora were certainly speaking the loudest in there. They weren't obnoxious like some people can be, but the others in there could hear them loud and clear. Duncan and Klaus were still talking to each other, but more quietly, and Quigley had grabbed a book out of his bag, and began reading it. Soon Klaus also wanted to read, and he too got a book. Duncan pulled his notebook out of his pocket, along with a pen, and began taking down some more notes. This time wrote down some basic things about Klaus and Sunny.

_Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire_

_Klaus seems like a really intelligent person. He's very wellread, and I have strong suspicions he reads even more than any of us others. He's very kind, noble and calm. _

_Sunny however, is a little different from the other Baudelaires, at least from what I've seen when talking to her. She's fierce, funny, and very fiesty for a toddler. Of course, she's smart as well, seeing she was raised by th people she was raised by. Apparently, she can already read. She's a fast learner from what I've heard. I wouldn't be surprised if she knows how to drive by age five._

"Children," Karen suddenly said, interrupting the girls' talking, Klaus and Quigley's reading and Duncan's writing. "We've got a new plan for the road trip."

"Would you mind if it lasted a few more days?" Beatrice asked.

The children looked at each other and smiled. The thought of a few extra days with each other didn't bother them at all.

"Not at all," Isadora answered.

"What've you come up with now?" Quentin asked. Judging by the question and his tone of voice, this was not something all parts of the adult group had discussed.

"We were thinking that we'd go and see if we could find any of our old friends," Beatrice revealed.

Both Quentin and Bertrand lit up, and the children seemed happy with their parents' idea.

"That sounds wonderful. We'd love to meet some of your old friends," Violet happily accepted the idea.

"Then we know where we're going," Karen grinned.

"We were thinking that we'll stay in this town for two nights, then turn back and go a different way back to Coastal Park Town to meet Montgomery and Josephine," Beatrice explained.

"Parfait!" Sunny shouted "perfect" in French, and that was the end of their change-of-plans conversation.


	6. Happenings at the Wonderfair

**Time has come for chapter six! Or as I would like to call it: the chapter where things get interesting. I'm not quite ready to write this, because this chapter has something that displeases me in it... Get ready...**

**(I'm writing this right after I finished writing the ****chapter, and let me just say, this is my favorite chapter yet.)**

**First I gotta respond to reviews!**

_**VeronicaWeasley -**_** Hold your horses, it's not Monty time quite yet. We've got a big part of the story to get through first. But still, yay for Monty! Of course I will write a new chapter. Here we have it!**

_**Guest -**_** I'm glad you're enjoying this story! I'm opposite side of the Dunclet vs Quiglet battle as you, and so this story will probably end with Dunclet winning, but I hope that's still okay with you. I can't say I'm 100% against Quiglet though, I just prefer Dunclet a lot.**

* * *

The minibus rolled into the nearby town an hour or so after they had decided to visit some old friends.

From what the families could see on their way to the motel, the town was small, cozy and nice. Not anything like the big, dirty and busy city. No 46-storey buildings with enormous penthouses, no roads to busy you could barely cross them and only a few cars driving around. It was a really nice change from what they were used to. From what they could see, the town wasn't as divided as their own. There were no specific districts where you could only buy fish, but different stores were spread out all over.

The town was just a dime a dozen, like any other on the map; except Coastal Park Town. The children had noticed long ago that from above, you could see the V.F.D. symbol made out of streets and houses on the map.

However there was one thing that stood out that the children could see from any spot in town. Down by the coast was a big theme park. A gigantic Ferris wheel and a large roller coaster could be seen over the roof of most houses.

"I know it's not alike the things we typically do, but what do you say we take a trip to the theme park later?" Beatrice suggested in a curious and cheerful manner.

"Sounds great," Quigley replied first.

"That would be nice," Violet answered.

"Go!" Sunny shrieked, which meant that she was on board.

"Marvelous!" Karen said. She had clearly wanted to go there as much as Sunny.

"Don't burn out all your excitement already, dear," Quentin said to Karen. "We've got to drop our things off at the motel first."

"Speaking of the motel," Beatrice said. "We're here."

She turned into a pretty small parking lot, drove over to a corner of it and parked the minibus.

"I'll pay," Bertrand volunteered. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket. "How many rooms are we getting?"

"Three, I suppose," Quentin said. "One for us, Karen and Bea, one for the girls and one for the boys."

"Sounds great," Beatrice said as the families started making their way out of the minibus.

Led by Klaus, the ten of them went into the motel reception.

"Welcome to the Primal Coast Motel," the woman behind the counter said dully.

"Thank you very much," Bertrand walked up to the counter. "We'd like three rooms, please."

"How many beds in each?" the woman asked, still sounding bored out of her mind.

"One with two double beds, and two with three beds in each," Bertrand answered.

"Fine," the woman responded, sighing. "Room four, seven and eight."

She handed Bertrand three keys before getting on with the payment. Bertrand gave Beatrice the keys. In turn, she gave two of the keys to Violet and Quigley.

"You can go leave your things in your room. We'll meet out here in ten minutes," she instructed.

The children left with their things and the keys to find rooms seven and eight. It was an easy search, and soon they were standing in front of the doors.

"We'll take seven, you take eight," Quigley decided.

He put the key in the lock and turned it. Violet did the same with the key to room eight.

The rooms looked a little different from each other. While room seven had one regular bed and one bunk bed, room eight had three regular ones. Sunny immediately decided she wanted the middle bed in the girls' room, so Isadora and Violet picked the other ones. Klaus decided to take the regular bed in the boys' room, leaving the two triplets with the bunk bed.

It didn't take more than five minutes for them all to be ready, so in a moment they were all back in the lobby. They had barely waited for one minute when their parents arrived, and they all took their seats in the minibus, and started driving towards the theme park.

* * *

"Awesome!" Sunny shouted as soon as they had gotten into the Wonderfair theme park.

She looked around at all the rides with stars in her eyes and a smile reaching from ear to ear. Karen too, was very excited. Everyone else found their enthusiasm entertaining.

"So, where do you say we start?" Quentin asked.

"There!" Sunny was quick to point her finger at a ride. It was a small roller coaster, which looked like it was meant for kids; the cart was painted like a ladybug.

"Klaus and I can take her there," Isadora said, grabbing Sunny's hand.

Sunny's grin grew wider as she approved of that. She then began dragging Isadora towards the little roller coaster. Isadora quickly grabbed Klaus' hand in her free one, and he was dragged along too.

"She's strong-willed," she giggled.

"Very," Klaus nodded.

They reached the roller coaster, which did not have a long line. Mostly it was just parents with small kids. There were two or three more people their age, who all had their younger siblings with them.

"Are you sure you want to ride this ride?" Klaus turned to Isadora. "I mean, if you want to go with the others I can take Sunny by myself."

"No," Isadora shook her head and smiled. "It's really kind of you to offer that, but I'd prefer to spend the day on smaller rides with you and Sunny. Neither I nor Duncan have ever been fans of big, fast rides." She looked back at the others, who were in the middle of deciding what they wanted to do. "Maybe he should have come with us too..."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Klaus intervened.

Isadora looked up at him.

"I know he will," she said. "I was just thinking."

"I's so fast!" Sunny exclaimed suddenly.

She watched the roller coaster go round and round on the little track. Isadora and Klaus looked up at it too. It wasn't as fast as the expectations Sunny put in their heads thought, but they understood why she thought it was fast.

As the next few people got to step into the ride, the three children walked closer. Sunny let go of Isadora's hand, and ran a couple of feet away to get a better look at the ride.

"Where do you think we should go after riding this?" Klaus asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe Sunny will make that decision for us," Isadora answered.

"Well, if she doesn't... maybe we could drop her off with our parents and have some fun on our own," Klaus suggested.

Isadora was quiet for a second, but not quiet as in she was thinking about it. This was a happy silence, where the two just looked at each other with goofy grins and smiling eyes.

"I'd like that a lot," she said.

Then the three carts of the roller coaster rolled up and stopped for more people to step on. The people who had just been on the ride stepped off, and new people stepped on. Isadora, Klaus and Sunny were three of them. Each of the little carts had room for two people.

"Im guessing you two are sitting together," the worker in charge of getting everyone seated told Klaus and Isadora.

"I...," Klaus began, not sure what to answer. "My sister...," he pointed to Sunny, still looking for words.

"Oh, sorry! I assumed you would want to ride together since... well, you're holding hands," the worker apologized.

Klaus and Isadora's heads immediately turned down to their hands, which they kind of realized first now were entwined. Isadora grabbed Klaus' hand to pull him to the ride, and none of them had let go once they were there. Now that they realized this, they quickly let go of each other, blushing a bit.

"Just get in!" Sunny shouted at them.

Klaus and Isadora turned their heads and spotted Sunny sitting in a cart with another toddler her age. They quickly stepped into the cart behind Sunny's, and sat down together. The little roller coaster started at a slow, nice pace. Just as the first little slope came, Klaus and Isadora looked into each others' eyes. Neither one could hide their smiles. Only a second before the slope, they both let their hands grab each other again, this time on purpose, and with other reasons than to pull each other towards a ride.

* * *

While Sunny dragged Isadora and Klaus to the kids roller coaster, the remaining Baudelaires and Quagmires decided to split up a bit. Quentin, Karen, Bertrand and Beatrice all wanted to ride the Ferris wheel. Duncan, Violet and Quigley did not. Not yet at least. So while their parents left to try the park's easiest-to-spot attraction, the three children started walking around, trying to find something fun to do.

Quigley was very keen on riding the big roller coaster that you could see running all over the park, at a fast pace. People's adrenaline-filled screams were heard all the time as their cart ran by. Violet, who had never had an interest in riding rollercoasters said that she'd be willing to try it. Duncan was not willing to try it. As Isadora had told Klaus, neither her nor Duncan had a particular liking towards fast rides. Quigley decided that they would ride it eventually, but not right away.

Instead, they played a few games around the park. Violet noticed she was really good at throwing darts at balloons and balls at pyramids of cans. She won them multiple bags of candy this way. Quigley decided to try his luck at spinning a lucky wheel. The luck was on his side, and he won the jackpot; a big, stuffed bear. Immediately when it was in his hands, he gave it to Violet. She was very happy about it.

The three of them then ran to play some more games. They laughed more than they had in a very long time. But then Quigley decided that it was time for him and Violet to go on the big ride. At the moment, Duncan didn't even care that he would be alone for some ten minutes. Violet handed him the big teddy bear, then she and Quigley were off. Duncan sat down on the closest bench, putting the bear beside himself. For several minutes after his brother and friend left, he still had a wide grin on his face. People probably looked at him and wondered; "why is that boy smiling alone on a bench with a giant teddy bear?", but Duncan didn't care. He was on cloud nine. He pulled his notebook out of his pocket, as he had some new things to write. It didn't take him any time at all to find the page where he had written about Violet. When he spotted the initials he had written, a thought hit him.

Earlier that day, when he left to go eat breakfast, he had left the book open on that very page. Violet had gone into the tent to get the bread. His smile faded and his cheeks turned red as he wondered whether she had seen the initials or not. He didn't have time to think about that right now though. He shook the thought out of his head, and began writing.

_This girl just gets better and better the more you get to know her. I can't find any flaws in her; she just seems perfect. _

_I find that the notes I write about her are different than the ones I write about other people, and other subjects. In a way, that's because she is different. I've had friends who are girls before, but I've never looked at any of them like I look at Violet Baudelaire. There's something about her that just makes my heart flutter with the wings of hundreds of butterflies. _

_I think I've been trying to deny this, because I've only known her since Monday, but I might like her as more than a friend. She's nothing short of beautiful; in every way I can think of. _

_But the very best part is that I think she might feel the same about me. It's no secret that I can read people, and I can see that there's something she likes about me. _

_It feels wonderful._

The things Duncan wrote in his notebook were very sweet and loving. He truly felt that he wanted to be with her, and he really thought she felt the same about him. That's what makes a part of this story even more heartbreaking than it was to begin with.

* * *

"That was amazing," Violet sighed happily when Quigley and her stepped off the roller coaster.

"I told you. Theme park rides are great," Quigley smirked at her.

"You were right," Violet replied. She turned around to look at the big roller coaster. "It's amazing how someone once thought of inventing this."

"Come on, I'm sure you'll come up with something even more marvelous," Quigley snorted.

Violet turned back around and smiled at him. They looked at each other in comfortable silence.

"What do you say we ride the Ferris wheel too before going back to Duncan?" Quigley suggested. "The line for the roller coaster was shorter than we thought, so we should have a few spare minutes."

"Okay. It'll do no harm," Violet answered happily.

The two switched their direction towards the Ferris wheel. It was close to the roller coaster, so they only walked for a minute and a half. First now they realized that they had picked a really good day to come to the theme park, because not many people were there at all. The two of them were on the Ferris wheel as soon as they walked up to it.

On the way up, they talked and talked. The Ferris wheel was very big, and moved kind of slowly, so they had plenty of time to look around. For a minute, they looked down at the ground, trying to spot their family members. They only spotted Klaus and Isadora though. This time the two were alone, and had obviously left Sunny with Bertrand and Beatrice.

After five minutes, Violet and Quigley were at the very top of the wheel, looking out over the water and town view.

"I am so incredibly happy our parents decided to leave the V.F.D.," Quigley sighed. "Or this would never have happened."

"I hope you don't mind my saying so, but I'm glad they left too," Violet giggled.

"Why would I mind your saying so? I said it first," Quigley asked.

Violet answered by chuckling.

"You're right. I can say that, and so can you," she then said. "But we can't say they were wrong in being in it in the first place. They put up a great battle against fire-starters."

"And when the battle ends, you can make friends," Quigley replied not even a second after Violet finished. "Isadora came up with that right after we were told about the road trip."

"She was right," Violet nodded. "I'm very happy she was. This is all wonderful."

"Everything about this road trip has pretty much been perfect," Quigley said.

"Definitely. We've made new friends and had plenty of fun," Violet looked out over the the ocean. "Not to mention what we're seeing right now. The view here is lovely."

"Very lovely indeed," Quigley answered.

At first Violet just smiled and nodded, but then she noticed Quigley wasn't looking at the ocean. He was looking at _her_. She turned her head and smiled even wider. Quigley smirked in a way that looked like he was about to do something amazing, mischievous and brave. Then he leaned in and kissed Violet on the lips. Initially, she was a tiny bit shocked, but then she gave into the kiss as well. At the moment they were both very happy this was happening.

Later, someone would not be happy this had happened.


	7. Confessions

**I'm back already! Yay! There's nothing interesting or spectacular I have to write here, so I'm just gonna respond to the reviews.**

_**VfdAgent -**_** Honestly, it has me shook too. It's the wrong ship! The candy bags thing was not a reference I put in on purpose, but sure, it can be a reference. The dialogue before the kiss though, I obviously meant to write. I might not ship Quiglet, but I sure like that "****_very lovely indeed_****" line.**

_**VeronicaWeasley -**_** Unless you want to be called lovely, you don't say that word around Quigley Quagmire. Honestly, I was smiling while writing it, even though I wrote most of it in the middle of math class. I probably looked a bit weird.**

_**Abby-E-Potter**_** \- I know. I need more Dunclet too. Duncan is clearly the one for Violet. Thanks for saying the Kladora part was 10/10 though! *Virtual high five***

_**Number Ten -**_** I knoooooow! Poor Duncan.**

**Now let's get to the story!**

* * *

Another five minutes after reaching the top and sharing a kiss, Violet and Quigley were at the bottom of the Ferris wheel again. They stepped out and began their short walk towards where they had left Duncan.

They found him right where they left him. He sat with his commonplace book in his hands, seemingly reading, and not writing. A tiny smile adorned his face.

"Hi Duncan," Violet said, and Duncan immediately turned his glance to her. "I'm sorry if we're a bit late."

"Oh, that's no worries," Duncan stood up. He walked over to Violet and Quigley. "How was the roller coaster?"

"It was amazing," Violet answered.

"Incredible," Quigley added.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Duncan smiled at his friend.

She smiled back, and Duncan couldn't help but think she was beautiful. Then his smile ghosted away when that reminded him of something.

"Violet?" he said unsurely. "When you were getting the bread rolls from our tent, you didn't happen to see what was written in my notebook, did you?"

Sudden thoughts hit Violet. She had forgotten all about the initials Duncan had written in his commonplace book. Now that she thought of it, she didn't feel as good about her kiss with Quigley as she did when it was happening.

"I didn't have time to do anything in the tent besides getting the bread," Violet lied. "And I wouldn't want to invade your privacy," she politely added.

Duncan didn't know whether to smile or be disappointed. If she hadn't seen it, there was nothing to worry about, but if she would have had, and she did like him, that could've meant they would get to start some kind of relationship.

"Okay...," Duncan breathed. "Good."

"Okay, so do you two want to keep talking about books and bread, or do you want to play some more games?" Quigley abruptly ended their conversation.

"Let's play some games," Violet said, putting on her best happy voice.

The three went off to find some more theme park games to play. Once again, they had an amazing time together. Especially Quigley and Duncan had a blast with Violet. Duncan felt wonderful because he loved being with Violet, and Quigley felt great because of the moment he and Violet shared on the Ferris wheel.

They were not the only two who shared a great moment on the Ferris wheel though.

Klaus and Isadora were on their way up to the top. They talked, joked, laughed and talked some more. Overall, everything felt amazing.

"I don't think I've ever fought with Violet and Sunny," Klaus admitted.

"Very well-raised I see," Isadora giggled. "Can't say the same about us."

"Were you not well-raised?" Klaus asked, knowing that wasn't really what she meant.

"No, dummy," Isadora answered. "I've definitely fought with Quigley and Duncan. But not as much as they fight with each other."

"I could understand that," Klaus said. "I think it's a twin thing; not that you're not triplets, but they're identical, you know. It's sort of a competition I assume."

Isadora giggled at Klaus' explanation.

"That sounds possible," she said. "I'm glad I'm not identical to anyone. Now instead," she flipped her hair dramatically. "I'm just the most beautiful instead."

"Totally," Klaus said without thinking. A second later he realized what had just slipped. "I mean... you look... good, and... I...," he started trying to put words together into a sentence that would make the situation less awkward.

"Klaus," Isadora interrupted. She grabbed Klaus' head and turned it towards herself. "Thank you."

"N-... No problem," Klaus sighed, sounding relieved.

"You look beautiful too," Isadora said, smiling kindly.

"Thanks," Klaus' lips turned up into a goofy smile.

"You know what?" Isadora turned her entire body towards Klaus. "I like you, Klaus Baudelaire."

Klaus gave a little surprised but happy snort.

"Wow...," he said.

"'_Wow_', what does '_wow_' mean?" Isadora asked, chuckling.

"In this case, _wow_ means that I had hoped this would happen," Klaus admitted.

"Marvelous," Isadora stated.

She moved herself closer to Klaus, and let her head lean on his shoulder as she grabbed his hand. Together they looked at the view of the water and the town, while they also realized that they had finally gotten what they wanted since meeting each other.

That once Ferris wheel at the Wonderfair in this little town by the coast truly did bring couples together.

* * *

Karen gave a relieved and astonished breath.

"That was a magnificent ride with twisting turns and an astonishing pace," she said happily. "I loved it."

She, along with her husband and friends, had just stepped of the big roller coaster.

"Indeed it was," Quentin agreed.

"What do you all say we take a break from the rides and try out some games now?" Bertrand suggested.

"That sounds lovely," Beatrice nodded.

"We've got a few over there," Karen pointed towards three game huts.

"Chocolate wheel, prize wheel or snack wheel?" Bertrand read the big, luminous signs above the different huts.

"I say we try our luck at the prize wheel," Beatrice decided.

"Then let's go," Karen lead the group to the hut in the middle.

"We'll buy ten numbers each please," Quentin told the man inside.

"Ten numbers each? That's a lot!" he said.

"That's a bigger chance of winning, but not above fifty percent, so I would still call it fair," Quentin smirked.

"You decide, Sir," the man selling them the numbers nodded. "Now this is how the prize wheel works. If you land on one of the numbers you picked, you get to pick a prize from here behind me. We've got many different things, raging from a dragonfly costume for your dog, to a nice blue and white sugar bowl, to your very own dartboard!"

The three things the man in the hut mentioned seemed very coincidentally similar to the lead-up to the schism. Karen thought it was kind of amusing how similar it was, Bertrand found it a bit suspicious, Quentin thought it was fun buth strange, and Beatrice... almost felt nothing. She had oppressed all her anxious thoughts about the sugar bowl and the schism, but now, it was impossible not to think about it. The sudden thoughts made her feel like a wooden pole had just been pushed right into her stomach. She felt extreme guilt and insecurity, almost so bad that she considered telling her husband and friends that she truly threw the poison dart responsible for the murder right where she was standing. She decided against it though. She knew that one day she would have to come clean, but it was not this day.

* * *

After a long, incredibly fun day filled with events at the Wonderfair theme park, every Baudelaire and Quagmire felt tired. They all felt like going right back to the motel to get some good sleep. Sunny fell asleep already in the minibus, and didn't wake up when Violet carried her to the girls' room. When they were in bed too, Violet suddenly didn't feel as tired. Her head was filled with too many thoughts, which were all crossing each other. Almost all of them were about either Quigley or Duncan. The letters in Duncan's book, the kiss on the Ferris wheel, both boys liking her. It felt like too much. After minutes and minutes of thinking, she rolled over to face Isadora.

"Isadora?" she whispered. "Are you awake?"

A second or two passed, then Isadora lifted her head up. She didn't seem so tired, so Violet assumed she had been awake thinking about something to.

"Yeah."

"Can I talk to you about something?" Violet asked.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" Isadora put her arms under her chin.

"Your brothers," Violet answered.

Isadora furrowed her eyebrows.

"What about them?"

"I'm pretty sure... they both like me," Violet admitted.

Isadora wrinkled her nose a bit.

"What? Gross," she giggled. "Tell me more. Pray tell."

"Well...," Violet started. "This morning when I was in their tent, I found Duncan's notebook. It was open, and so I saw that he had written D.Q. and V.B. with a plus sign."

"Ooooh, that's interesting," Isadora said. "What about Quigley?"

"On the Ferris wheel...," Violet hesitated. "we kissed."

"What?" Isadora gasped. Violet couldn't quite tell in the darkness, but she was pretty sure her eyes widened. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Violet smiled.

"That's a disclosure," Isadora giggled. "Clearly he likes you."

Both Violet and her giggled a bit.

"So what do you feel about them?" Isadora then asked. This erased Violet's smile.

"I honestly don't know," she answered unsurely. "They're wonderful people, and I've never had friends like them and you before. I just don't know how or whether to chose between them."

"That's a tough situation," Isadora said understandingly. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Violet assured. "I'll find a way out of it."

On the other side of the wall, the Quagmire boys' minds were on the same topic. Violet Baudelaire and themselves. Duncan thought of how much he liked Violet, and convinced himself even more than she like him back. He lay in the bottom bunk, smiling at the bottom of the top bunk.

Quigley thought about the kiss he and Violet shared. Just the thought of it made him feel butterflies. What he wanted at the moment was to tell someone about it. He couldn't keep it in anymore. Someone needed to share his happiness.

"Dunc?" he asked out into the air.

"Yes," Duncan answered.

"You're awake, great," Quigley said. "Klaus?" he turned his head to the right, where Klaus' bed was.

Not a peep was heard. Klaus was asleep.

"There's something I have to tell you," Quigley turned his head back to stare at the ceiling while he talked to Duncan.

"Okay. Go on," Duncan nodded to himself.

"Earlier today, at the fair, when me and Violet went to ride the roller coaster, we went on the Ferris wheel too," Quigley started. He started chuckling.

Duncan however, did not chuckle. He wasn't even smiling anymore. A terrible feeling filled him, and he wasn't sure why.

"And we...," Quigley started before taking another break to laugh quietly. "We kissed."

Two words changed Duncan's entire mood and mindset. His heart might as well have just broken in two parts as it sank to the bottom of his world. Those two words changed everything in a way that Duncan wasn't fond of at all.

Violet didn't like him. She liked Quigley, and they were pretty much a thing already.

It was all too much. Duncan pulled his pillow out from under his head and buried his face in it. If he hadn't, he would probably have screamed "no!" in pure misery. He pressed the pillow to his face, as if burying himself in it would resolve all of his problems.

"Dunc? Where'd you go?" Quigley asked.

"I'm... I'm still here," Duncan answered, choking a few sobs. He removed the pillow.

Keeping the tears from flowing was like keeping water in cupped hands though, and a few silent tears streamed out of his eyes. He pursed his lips together firmly in order to not sob loudly. Staring at the ceiling, he started to rethink his entire situation with Violet.

"So, what do you think?" Quigley said nonchalantly.

"About what?" Duncan responded, making his voice sound as happy as he possibly could in the moment.

"That we kissed," Quigley answered.

Duncan went silent again.

"That's... great," he lied tremendously. "Wonderful, Quigley. Just great."

He placed his underarm over his eyes. He wished with all he had that he would wake up to find this was just a dream. But he could feel it wasn't. Dreams never caused this much pain. It was way worse than a pinch on the arm to confirm it was real life.

"I know," Quigley said, chuckling to himself. "It felt amazing. Just knowing that she likes me back is enough to put me on cloud nine."

"Yeah, I'm sure it did," Duncan answered, still choking cries and gasps for air through the sobs.

He could hear sounds coming from Quigley's bunk, and quickly wiped his cheeks dry of tears. A second later, Quigley's head appeared looking over the edge of the top bunk.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," he said.

"Me neither," Duncan replied, avoiding eye contact with Quigley.

Quigley grinned widely and swung himself into his own bunk again. They didn't speak to each other any more that night. Quigley was the first to fall asleep, which Duncan figured out when he heard the very familiar snoring. It wasn't the snoring that kept him up for a couple of hours though. He had the crying and thinking to blame for that. Now that none of the others were awake, he didn't have to be quiet anymore.

He couldn't help against his thinking about all the things he couldn't do now that he knew what he knew. He had imagined all the romantic, cute moments he and Violet could've shared, but now they were just miserable reminders that she liked someone else.

With these thoughts in mind, Duncan fell asleep, after hours of being sad.


	8. The Particularly Perfect Moment

**This update did not come one day after the previous one, but it's still quick considering it took me six months to get from chapter one to chapter two. There's no real reason for me to write that, but who cares? ****Review Responses**

_**VeronicaWeasley - **_**There it is indeed! That one scene I told you about maybe three or four months ago. Took me some time to actually get to it. I felt so bad for Duncan while writing that chapter, but as you say; we all know things will end up well in the end. Kladora is pretty much the perfect ship (so is Dunclet). **

_**Abby-E-Potter -**_** That is a very good idea you've come with right there. I'll make sure this chapter has a lot of Violet and Isadora friendship! Thanks for saying you love my work! It means extremely much. Also, are you apologizing for reviewing? The people who leave reviews on every single chapter I release are my favorite people! You're freaking amazing for commenting a lot, so keep it up.**

_**VfdAgent -**_** To be honest, everything in the ASOUE world feels suspicious and coincidental. Of course you felt bad for Duncan. That part of the chapter was hard to write. Soon, you'll get to see how I handled Quigley's situation...**

_**TUCfan -**_** Things look bad, and when things look bad they often turn out to be worse. Thanks for what you said!**

_**LOVEALL121 -**_** I'm very glad you think so!**

**_sunflowerrss_ \- First off, thank you! Secondly, try to stop me from continuing this! Personally, I think this is the best story I've written so far, so of course I'm continuing.**

_**blackberryjam -**_** I'm very happy you like it! Thanks a lot!**

* * *

The next morning nothing felt the same. For everyone, things either felt better or worse. Beatrice had barely slept, only being able to think about the poison dart she threw. In the morning, it was the first thing that popped into her head.

Quigley woke up feeling better than usual. The day before had been awesome for him and now he'd also had a really good dream. His mood was certainly through the roof, and his smile shone bright the entire morning.

Klaus and Isadora were also happier than before. Isadora had barely woken up before she went to knock on the boys' room door. Klaus was also up at the same time, and was also on his way to knock on Isadora's door. They met in the corridor, where they immediately hugged each other.

Violet wasn't happy to get out of bed. She lay in it, twisting and turning for several minutes before actually getting up. She didn't know what to think at the moment. All her thoughts about Duncan and Quigley confused her in a way no thought had ever made her feel.

Duncan however, felt the worst. When he woke up, he wished once again that it was all a dream, even though he knew it wasn't. He didn't want to think about Violet, because every thought of her made him feel very down. Yet he couldn't stop thinking about her. Every thought made him want to cry, and if he said he hadn't let a few tears flow, people would see right through that lie.

The six children and their four parents met to eat breakfast at the motel's small restaurant. They didn't serve a lot of different foods, but all of the Baudelaires and Quagmires felt that they didn't mind eating toast and all-bran cereal. Bertrand, Beatrice, Quentin and Karen made the decision to sit at a different table from the children. Klaus, Isadora, Sunny and Quigley didn't mind this at all. They sat down at a table with three chairs on each side of it, and started chatting in a partly fiddly manner, particularly because of Violet and Duncan.

"You two seem a bit debilitated this morning," Klaus commented.

Violet and Duncan both seemed to understand he was talking about them.

"I'm... just fine," Violet said, looking down at the toast on her plate.

Duncan simply nodded. He glanced up at Quigley and Violet, who were sitting on the opposite side of the table as him. Quigley seemed at the top of his game, but Violet did indeed look a bit awkward. Duncan leaned his head onto the wall beside him.

"Tired?" Quigley asked, mainly looking at Violet.

"Yes, very...," Violet pretended that was all that bothered her.

"Well, you'll have to wake up before we go to that restaurant later," Quigley cheerfully reminded her.

"I know. Sleeping wouldn't be polite at a restaurant," Violet said.

"Children," Beatrice's voice made the children turn their heads towards the grown-ups' table.

"What mother?" Klaus asked.

"We think we may have found the perfect restaurant to eat at," Karen said. She held up a brochure. At the top there was a tiny label saying "_Best Restaurants in Primal Coast_."

Isadora grabbed it. Karen had turned to a page with a shore restaurant. It was big and nice, and was placed on a small cliff. There was a balcony above it, which looked like it had a wonderful view of the sea.

"Seems perfect indeed," Isadora grinned.

"Then we're going there," Quentin said. "Lunch or dinner?"

"I would say lunch," Klaus answered. He started explaining. "You would think that going there in the evening would be nice, because you could watch the sunset, but I noticed yesterday that the sun sets over the town, not over the shore. That also means that in the middle of the day, we'll have sunlight, but we won't have to worry about getting the sun in our eyes."

Beatrice couldn't do anything but smile proudly at her son's reasoning.

"Lunch at the Seaside Restaurant will be wonderful."

* * *

Lunch came around the corner faster than they had expected. It wasn't that they thought lunch hour would arrive later than normal on this particular day, but they were able to fill up their time well enough for time to fly by. Violet suppressed her doubts and and indecisive thoughts about the Quagmire boys, and Duncan focused on instead having a good time with his friends and siblings.

When they all arrived at the restaurant they could see that it was a popular place. The realizationt that they would have to separate parents from children again, like at breakfast, came to their bright minds early. Luckily, there was a free table for four, and a free table for six in the fancy restaurant. They were relatively close, so the parents wouldn't have to worry about their children being abducted in the crowd, and the children wouldn't have to worry about their parents suddenly abandoning them when they weren't looking. The tables were far enough away from each other for both the groups to not have to listen to each others' conversations, much to their fortune. To their misfortune, neither of the tables were out on the big patio with a sea view. They were both inside, which of course was nice too.

A posh dressed waitress showed up at the children's table as soon as they sat down.

"Hello and welcome to the Seaside Restaurant. I'm Layla, your waiter, and I'm delighted you chose to eat here. What do you wish to have today?" it was very clear that the words coming from her mouth were scripted. This was confirmed when they heard another waiter say the exact same phrase to another party beside them.

"What would you recommend?" Isadora asked.

"Ooooh, I always like personal recommendations. My favorite _by far_ is the Pasta Bolognese," without the prepared welcoming phrase, the waitress seemed way more exciting and fun.

"Pasta is always great," Isadora said, smiling at Layla. "I'll have the Bolognese."

"What other pasta dishes do you have here?" Violet asked.

"Oh, I'm not really sure," Layla pulled a big piece of paper from her staff bag. "If you like you can check out the different pastas on the menu."

Violet, Klaus and Duncan took one menu each. The Baudelaires turned to the pasta page.

"The Pasta Puttanesca sounds nice," Violet said.

"Pasta sauce with anchovies, garlic, olives and capers," Klaus read of the menu. "It sounds nice."

"We'll have one portion of Pasta Puttanesca each," Violet kindly put in the order.

"What does Puttanesca mean?" Quigley asked. "I know that Bolognese is connected to a group of people, but I've never heard of Puttanesca sauce before."

"Oh...," the waitress chuckled. "I'm not sure you want to know."

"Well, that just makes me want to know more," Quigley simply answered.

"Okay then," Layla leaned in to tell them.

She put her hands over Sunny's ears before whispering the translated name of the pasta. The older children smiled, looking surprised.

"That's an interesting name for pasta," Quigley laughed.

"Certainly is," Layla said before getting back to taking their orders. "I've got one Pasta Bolognese and two Pasta Puttanescas."

"I'll have the Seaside Special," Quigley responded.

"Me too, please," Duncan said.

"Fiss and sips," Sunny ordered fish and chips.

"Great!" Layla wrote the orders down on her clipboard before disappearing to the kitchen.

"I bet this will be good," Isadora said. "Everyone in the restaurant seems to be enjoying their food."

"The restaurant's five star rating seems to be true," Quigley responded.

"Then I guess today will be just as wonderful as yesterday," Klaus said, the corners of his lips turning up into a smile as he thought of the moment he and Isadora shared on the Ferris wheel.

"I particularly liked riding the roller coaster," said Quigley. His entire upper body was turned towards Violet, suggesting he really was only talking to her.

Violet nodded slowly. The smile on her face didn't look as genuine as it usually did, which made the others question her agreement a bit. Duncan let his eyes stay on Violet for a bit. For a second he thought of what Quigley had told him last night, and he wondered whether Violet really had wanted to kiss him. The thoughts that denied what probably was the truth were the ones that Duncan wanted to think the most. Imagining Violet wanted to be with _him_ and not Quigley felt like stepping into a light, warm cloud of smoke. He didn't speak much more with the others, but kept quiet to himself. This wasn't really a conscious decision.

Soon, the food arrived. It truly was as good as the restaurant and its other visitors has promised. Isadora agreed with Layla about the Bolognese being amazing, and the two older Baudelaires enjoyed their Pasta Puttanesca.

I'm sure everyone has been in a situation where you finished their food before the others who you were eating with. You want to leave and do something else, but you know you can't. You have no choice but to sit and wait for the other person to finish their food. That was the exact situation that happened. When the children finished their pasta, fish and chips and lobster, they noticed that their parents didn't even seem to be close to finishing. They chatted and chatted like they didn't have children waiting for them a few tables away.

"So what do we do now?" Duncan asked.

"We wait," Violet said, sighing silently. She knew with herself that she was definitely going to wait, as that was polite, kind and the right thing to do. That didn't mean she would enjoy the waiting.

"Deser?" Sunny said.

"Yes, maybe," Violet answered her. "If we can find Layla again, we can ask for dessert."

Sunny smiled.

"I can see her," Isadora said. She was leaning out from her seat, looking out into the restaurant. "I think she's serving another party."

"Should we go over and get her?" Quigley asked.

"No, that would be interrupting," Klaus answered quickly. "We'll just have to wait until she comes to pick up our plates."

"Would anyone like to go out on the deck to look at the view while we wait?" Isadora asked. When she glanced through the restaurant to find the waitress, she had seen how marvelous the view seemed to look.

"I would," Klaus grinned.

"Great," Isadora turned her head to him. A smile appeared on her immediately. "Anyone else?"

"I'll stay here and wait for Layla," Violet replied.

"Me too," said Duncan.

"Same," Quigley nodded.

Sunny shook her head. Isadora looked at Klaus.

"Then let's go," she stepped off her chair and started walking towards the big glass doors to the huge balcony. Klaus followed her. On the way, they slid their hands together, and grabbed on tightly. They smoothly made their way out onto the big deck. The view truly was something else. Ocean all the way to where sky met ground, the long beach below the cliff side restaurant, and high hills on the sides. All completed and tied together with the purplish orange light from the sunset behind them. The two of them found an empty place by the railing.

"This truly looks amazing," Isadora said dreamily.

"Indeed it is," Klaus said.

"I'm so happy we stopped in this town."

"I'm happy we went on this road trip."

Isadora giggled to herself.

"How couldn't you be?" she said. "It's been wonderful. And if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met you and your sisters."

"That would be to no good," Klaus chuckled. "I didn't know I needed you in my life until I met you."

First a second later did he realize that what he said did not sound like something you would say to someone you had only known for a few days. Red bloomed on his face immediately.

"I... I'm sorry," he looked down, still smiling to himself.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Isadora asked. "All I have to say about your statement is that I feel the same about you."

Klaus' head turned right back up to look as Isadora. She was already looking at him.

"I met you just four days ago, but already I can't imagine leaving to live a life without you," she said, happiness in her starry eyes, and truth held in her voice.

Klaus' smile turned into a happily goofy one.

"Don't worry," he said. "That won't happen."

Isadora turned her entire body towards Klaus. She grabbed his other hand and turned him towards her. The two looked into each others' eyes as Isadora recited a short couplet of her own.

"I know that I love you, and I hope you want me too."

There was nothing else for Klaus to do but smile and close his eyes as Isadora leaned in, and the two shared their first kiss. For a few seconds they stood there, out on the restaurant balcony. The wind blew graciously through Isadora's hair; the setting sun gave them just enough light to feel the magic in the air, and the moment felt like it lasted forever. Both of them knew this was just the first of many times like these, and couldn't wait for each of their moments in the future.

Klaus let his left hand go of Isadora's, and instead put it around her shoulder. The two turned towards the view again. None of them felt a particular desire for dessert anymore. Standing out on the balcony together felt way more pleasant.

* * *

**Before you leave to go read/do something else, I need you to answer a question for me. Once I finish this story, I will obviously start a new one. I've got two ideas for this new story, and I will write both of them eventually. What I need help with is deciding which one to write first. Here are the ideas:**

**1: _A Slightly Changed Series of Unfortunate Events_**

**One of the most devastating deaths for me was Olivia Caliban's death. When I was watching the series for the seventh time or something, I thought; what would have happened if Olivia survived? So that's what this story would be about! What would have happened to the story if Olivia Caliban survived at Caligari Carnival, and followed the Baudelaires along on their journey?**

**2: _Finding the Baudelaires_**

**What happened after Lemony Snicket and Beatrice Baudelaire II met and discussed the Baudelaires' story over a couple of root beer floats? What things did Lemony finally find out? What stories did Beatrice tell? And most important of all, did this meeting lead Lemony to finally finding the Baudelaire orphans?**

**Tell me in a review which one I should write first! And please, don't say anything along the lines of "_I'm fine with either, you choose," _because choosing is exactly what I don't want to do. That's what I need help with. Therefore, you chose what story I should write. Tell me either "write _A Slightly Changed Series of Unfortunate Events_" or "write _Finding the Baudelaires_". Thank you.**


	9. Motel of Admitting Secrets

**Hey fellow humans, I'm once again back with another chapter of this story y'all seem to love! But as you know, I've got reviews to respond to before the real chapter.**

_**Marthmellow -**_** That was a lot of please, and in caps too. I will therefore bring forth another chapter to you!**

**sunflowerrss - The fandom really loves Kladora, and so do I. Of course you have to feel happy for them, and of course you feel bad for Duncan. It's hard not to while imagining his situation.**

**_Robogirl1024_ \- Of course I'll write more. Thank you so incredibly much! Having you call me talented really brightened my day up!**

_**VeronicaWeasley -**_** We all love Kladora, and we will never stop loving Kladora. About the thing you said about not being able to wait; you actually _can_ wait, you just don't _want_ to.**

**_TUCfan_ \- An ASOUE story wouldn't be the same without Kladora. Thanks a lot!**

_**LOVEALL121 -**_** Thank you so much! It delights me to know that people think it's lovely.**

_**Abby-E-Potter -**_** Like you squealed like a hamster when they kissed, I squealed like a hamster when I saw your super long review. The longer the better! I did not only take your Violet and Isadora friendship into consideration, I _had_ to include it more. We can't only have romance in this story, we need some good old friendships as well. I would be doing myself and others dirty if I didn't read the reviews. Especially when this one was so long. Thanks so out-of-this-world much.**

* * *

Before the moment Klaus Baudelaire and Isadora Quagmire shared happened, the other Baudelaire and Quagmire children had been waiting for Layla, the waiter to return to them. They sat still for several minutes, carrying a slowly dying conversation. Even though it wasn't the situation, it felt like Layla went to several different groups of people instead of returning to take their dessert orders.

Over by the grown-ups' table, the one bottle of wine Beatrice and Karen had ordered had turned into two bottles. Bertrand had a little sip left in his small glass, while Beatrice and Karen had not kept count of the glasses they drunk. The only thing Quentin and Bertrand knew was that their wives might have drunk a bit too much. They had subconsciously made the decision that since this was their first time meeting in years, they deserved a fun night of drinks. Now both of them managed to find something funny in everything someone said. They weren't recklessly wasted, dancing on the tables, much to everyone's relief at least.

"...and then we just 'cided that we would leave," Karen said.

"'Cause of what Duncan said?" Beatrice asked slowly.

Karen nodded and took another sip from her little glass of wine.

"That's so sweet," Beatrice said, dragging the _e_ in sweet out.

"I'd never realized 'ow much we wen' away on work before that," Karen admitted.

"Neither had we realized that we were tired of work," said Quentin, who had not been drinking, as he was the one who would drive them home.

Karen let out a little laugh.

"How're the kids doin' now anyway?" Beatrice turned her back to find the kids' table. "Maybe they wanna leave..."

Karen also turned, and the men, who already sat turned towards the children, looked up at them.

"Where's Klaus and Isadora?" Bertrand said when he noticed they were not at the table with the others.

"I have no idea," Beatrice said.

They looked for a bit to find the two missing ones.

"There!" Karen pointed out towards the deck.

The others followed the direction her finger pointed in and spotted Klaus and Isadora out on the balcony. They were turned towards one another, their hands holding onto each other.

"What are they doing out there?" asked Quentin curiously.

They could see Isadora say some words, before the Baudelaire son and the Quagmire daughter leaned towards each other. A second later they were kissing. Beatrice and Karen turned towards each other instead, gaping in shock and surprise.

"D'you see that!?" Karen asked.

"How could I not?!" Beatrice answered.

The two immediately hugged while Quentin and Bertrand exchanged a smiling look.

"I knew they would end up together if they met," Karen said confidently. Her speech was no way clearer than before. "It was just a question of when," she said dreamily.

"Well, this is surprising," Quentin said.

He certainly felt happy for his daughter, but at the same time he wasn't sure if this was right. Both of the children were very young, and not to mention this meant his little girl had gone into the world of dating. He didn't mention any of this though, as that might have been viewn as offending to Bertrand and Beatrice, whose son his daughter was kissing.

"This road trip just got more exciting!" Karen exclaimed. Her feeling were currently different than Quentin's; that was for sure.

* * *

Isadora and Klaus didn't mention their kiss to their siblings, neither did their parents admit that they saw it. It was as if they'd made a subconcious promise that this was only between them. This promise was kept all the way until the evening, when Sunny had fallen asleep, and Violet and Isadora lay awake in thier beds, talking.

"There's something you need to know, Violet," said Isadora as the start of a new conversation topic.

"What?" asked Violet inquisitively.

"Remember last night, when you told me what happened between you and Quigley on the Ferris wheel," Isadora said. Violet nodded. "Well, I need to confess something similar."

Violet looked at her, intrigued and curious. Isadora took a deep breath before speaking. She felt almost the same excitement as in the moment she and Klaus had shared.

"Today, at the restaurant, me and Klaus went out on the balcony, and well... we kissed!" she bounced up and down in her crossed leg position on the bed.

As far as Isadora could tell in the dark, Violet smiled beamingly.

"I knew there was something between you two."

"We weren't hiding it," Isadora said, giggling.

"So do Quigley and Duncan know?" said Violet.

"Oh no," Isadora said quickly. "If they got to know this early they would turn all overprotective and stuff."

Violet nodded. "I can understand that. Both their reaction and your decision not to tell them because of this reaction. I don't think Sunny will go tell Klaus immediately when she gets a boyfriend."

"To be honest, I think Sunny's the type who would keep it to herself, but walk around giggling about it just to get you guys more curious," Isadora chuckled under her speech.

"Wouldn't surprise me," Violet responded.

They laughed for a moment. Both about Isadora's prediction about Sunny, and about Isadora's kiss with Klaus.

"So I'm guessing you and Klaus are a thing now," Violet assumed.

"We've been since yesterday," Isadora admitted. "Your kiss with Quigley wasn't the only thing that happened on the Ferris wheel."

Violet tried to make her smile seem as genuine as possible. It was a good thing Isadora had said, and with good intentions as well. The thing was that it had brought her insecurities about the Quagmire brothers back. Isadora frowned at Violet's quite obvious fake smile.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes... Yes, I am," Violet said unsurely. "I'm just... still not sure how I feel."

"At least you've got a choice," Isadora said, hoping it would cheer Violet up.

It didn't. If anything it made her feel a bit worse. She didn't want to have to choose between Duncan and Quigley. Any of the possible outcomes involved one or both of them being let down and dejected. The situation was tough to bare.

* * *

As everyone reading this story has already understood long ago, Violet wasn't the only Baudelaire stuck at a crossroads. Beatrice and Karen were still awake, now down in the motel dining room. It was pretty late in the evening, so all of the other guests were in bed already. The staff had let them go in there, as long as they would lock it up after they left.

They weren't as cheerfully and socially drunk as before, but now they were instead calm and a bit sleepy. Neither of them felt that they wanted to go to sleep though. Karen for the simple reason that she couldn't sleep being drunk, and Beatrice being kept awake by her returned thoughts about the sugar bowl.

"I was thinking that we'd start driving towards Monty or Josephine tomorrow," Karen said.

Beatrice nodded.

"I feel like we've driven as far as we had to to call this a long road trip," Karen continued.

"Me too," Beatrice said shortly.

"Ugh, but we'll have to drive down Lousy Lane," Karen groaned. "I know the Horseradish Factory is there for a good cause, but I don't believe anyone could stand that smell."

Beatrice nodded again. Her mind wasn't taking in every word Karen said. She heard, but didn't fully listen.

"It'll be interesting to see whether Monty has found any new reptiles though. Going in that Reptile Room always was a wonder."

This time Beatrice didn't answer at all. No words, no movement. Her mind had gone into a different place than listening to Karen, who kept talking.

"The children will love it too, I'm sure of it. Especially Sunny; I watched her calmly talking to a tiny snake at the campsite a couple of days ago."

_Would she really blame you if you told her about the poison dart you threw? _Beatrice asked herself in her head.

"I really think she's got some connection with reptiles. She likes them and they like her," Karen said.

_Esmé meant to kill me or Lemony, but missed. There would have been a schism either way, _Beatrice told herself.

"I remember the turtles Monty found who liked music; those were my type of animal," Karen stated.

_The schism started because Esmé kept the sugar to herself, and then started a poison dart fight when I stole the bowl from her; which was a noble act done for the right reasons, _Beatrice's voice in her head made sure to itself.

"... and Josephine would love the children. She always talked to Ike about the wondrous adventures they would go on with their children. I wonder if she's got children of her own now..."

_Karen would understand if anyone. She's on my side in the question about the stolen sugar bowl, _Beatrice had been staring at a spot on the table the entire time, thinking to herself.

"Josephine would definitely be one to adopt; if she hasn't found someone new who-"

"Karen," Beatrice suddenly spoke.

Karen stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"What?" she asked, wondering if she had said something, or if she had just spoken too much.

"There's something you need to know," Beatrice said seriously.

Karen furrowed her eyebrows and leant forward on the table.

"Tell me," she said. She had heard the seriousness and worry in Beatrice's voice.

"We need to talk about that night at the opera," said Beatrice.

"The night of the poison darts," Karen guessed the obvious, and Beatrice nodded.

"The poison darts is exactly what we need to discuss."

Karen shifted a bit. For years and years this had been a touchy subject in the Volunteer Fire Department.

"Specifically, the one that hit Olaf's father," Beatrice continued. Her tone of voice told everything. She was very unsure whether she should be telling Karen this.

"The one Lemony threw?" Karen asked to make things sure for herself. She had not been present at the night of the poison dart throwing, as she and Quentin had been out on a mission.

Beatrice took a deep, but very quick breath.

"That's what's been told," she said. "That's what everyone think, because that's what it looked like from the angle Olaf, Kit and Esmé saw it from."

"What... what do you mean?" Karen asked.

"Karen," Beatrice said, her voice now at the peak of nervousness. "I threw the dart that killed Olaf's father."

Karen didn't speak, nor did she move. She looked at Beatrice, as though waiting for her to say that it was just a very bad, but very well executed joke. Beatrice didn't. She just looked back at Karen, waiting for some kind of reaction; any reaction. Hatred or understanding, she simply wanted to know what people would think of this.

"I...," Karen began. "Why haven't you told me this earlier?" Her voice was calm, although a bit confused.

"Lemony asked me not to," Beatrice admitted. "He said that he would be better off hiding from Olaf and his side of the schism than me."

"Who else knows about this?" Karen asked.

"No one," Beatrice said. "You're the first one I've told."

"I understand," Karen said quickly afterwards. "I understand why you've not told anyone."

These words came with greater comfort to Beatrice than she ever could have expected. She even felt that telling Bertrand and Quentin about the night at the opera wouldn't be that bad either. She wouldn't be hated, but would be understood. Finally, she took a breath of great relief.

* * *

**Reminder: You can vote for which story I should write next all the way until I finish this story! (But only if you haven't already written which one you'd like).**

**New thing: Since y'all were so amazing at voting for stories, now I want you to write something else in your reviews. Critique! Real critique! Point out things that are wrong/odd, and hold nothing back. Is there a certain word or phrase I use too much? Was some idea bad? Did a character say something that did not fit them? Any grammar mistakes I made or grammar suggestions you might have? Tell me that in your review of this chapter! **

**Now I want you to acknowledge that this is not a plead for hate, but it is me asking you to help me write better, and by doing so; making the content you get to read more enjoyable. The reviews shouldn't be "This is bad, you suck," it should be "You should cut this out or change this and the story would be better." Thanks a lot!**

**Note: Not only on critique on this chapter, but my stories in general.**


	10. In the Heat of the Campfire

**It's been a short while since the last update, but that's no big deal, right? I have reasons!**

**1: A bit of stress, because summer break is coming up, and next school term, I'm starting a new school (in Sweden, with the weird school system), you switch schools from ninth to tenth grade, and it's a big deal. **

**2: Eye strain. It seems my eyes got tired out, and I couldn't write for that long before they started aching and wanting to take a break.**

**3: Rereading Harry Potter.**

**I will assume that you understood my reasons. Thanks for understanding.**

**Review Responses**

_**AnonymousRebel1103 - **_**Thanks a heck lot! We all squeal for Kladora, and we all feel down for Duncan at the moment. I am safe and feeling well, although there is no quarantine in Sweden. Thanks for wishing me well!**

_**sunflowerrss -**_** We all love a bit of good old DRAMA! I love that idea. I love Sunny, I love romance, I'm gonna make it happen!**

_**IAmTheUltimateFangirl -**_** Thank you! It's no worries, you do what you can do.**

_**Abby-E-Potter -**_** I am delighted I made your day! I'll make sure Klaus gets out of it unharmed and on good terms with the Quagmire men. Thanks so incredibly much for the critique. I would say yours was the most helpful out of all the critique I got. I do find that sometimes it can be hard to interpret how characters say things, but also sometimes I feel like you can get an idea based on the circumstances and prior things said and done. I'll make sure to put in more descriptions of how things are said! And no, it did not come off as mean, it came off as very helpful, and exactly what I asked for. Thanks again!**

_**TUCfan -**_** Surprises and feelings all over the place is what I like most. Thanks for all that you said!**

_**Midsummerlilies -**_** Critique taken in! I'll try to do that as best as I can! Thanks and thanks again for saying I've improved. I also feel that I have improved, not only since my first story in the site, but also since my first story in the ASOUE fandom.**

_**VfdAgent -**_ **1: Thank you! 2: She did really need to get that off her chest. 3: Every writer needs to torture their readers with bad feelings. 4: I've got a plan for Quigley :)**

_**VeronicaWeasley - **_**Nuh-uh, not quite yet! First we have to get some things out of the way. I don't even know how I got the idea for drunk Karen and Bea being fan girls. I will definitely do that! Thank you!**

**Now let's finally get into the chapter (after I go and read the latest one so I'm caught up and know what to write).**

* * *

The next morning they got up early and went down to the breakfast room immediately. Everyone wanted to get out on the road again as fast as possible. Staying at one place for too long wasn't the vibe and plan they had for the road trip. At the children's table, they talked a sight more than the day before. Duncan had gotten over his initial shock and despair of Violet supposedly not liking him, and could now easily move a conversation forward. Violet too felt a bit better. In the late hours of last night, she had made up her mind to just let things flow and see what happens, like she sometimes did with inventions she wasn't sure how to move along with.

This morning it was at the adults' table the silence laid. It was as if the silence had shifted from one table to another overnight. Bertrand and Quentin spoke softly and quietly with each other, sometimes including Karen and Beatrice when a question regarding them came up. Other than those few questions, Beatrice and Karen were pretty quiet. Karen had whipped out a newspaper (which was not from the Daily Punctilio; if it was, she would have gotten a lecture from one of her sons), and let her eyes dart forward and back across it animatedly.

Beatrice helped herself to a new piece of bread when she finished her first one.

"Karen, could you pass me the butter?" she asked politely.

Without taking her eyes off the paper, Karen gave the butter a slight push in Beatrice's direction. Beatrice got the strange impression that Karen wasn't actually reading, but simply using the newspaper as a barrier for conversation. She told herself that she was just overthinking, and that Karen was just tired and didn't feel up to talking.

"Do you have any ideas for where to go on our way to Monty and Josephine?" Beatrice asked.

"No", Karen said, sternly and shortly. Beatrice noticed her eyes going right back up to the top of the page instead of turning it over to read the next.

"I'll tell you; I have ideas," said Quentin. He leaned over the table towards Beatrice, holding a large piece of paper in his hands. It was a map over the surrounding area of the town. "See here. There are two campsites. Me and Bertrand were thinking we'd go to the smaller one - it's probably less crowded."

"Sounds good," Beatrice nodded, her eyes on the map. "Then we'll take a break there, sleep, and then be on our way to Damocles Dock or Lousy Lane."

"Indeed." Said Bertrand.

Karen took a sip of tea from the little cup in her newspaper-free hand, then she put the newspaper down on the table, her eyes still on it, but quite obviously not reading.

"I'm going to our room," she directed the information at Quentin.

"At half past we'll meet in the reception hall," Bertrand quickly informed.

Karen neither nodded or said anything to clarify that she had heard him. She walked straight to the motel room she and Quentin shared, and in there she sat down on the bed. The whole morning her head had been swarmed by unsure thoughts about what she was told the night before. During the moment, she was understanding and kind, but ever since then, her head had been going at several miles per hour, costing her sleep, because she was comprehending and thinking more and more about the poison dart situation. She had doubted her understanding multiple times. Every time a doubtful thought about Beatrice crossed her mind, her stomach gave a little ache. It was as if something inside her punished her for being hesitant about what to think.

She wasn't proud to admit it, but she was doubting whether she really accepted that Beatrice had waited so long to tell anyone. She felt horrible for her mind accusing Beatrice of being at fault for the schism.

_It would have happened anyway because of the sugar bowl theft, _she told herself before being struck by the fact that Beatrice had been one of the thieves.

_It was Esmé's fault. She started throwing darts, _said another part of her.

_She only threw the darts because Bea stole the sugar bowl._

_Because Esmé couldn't just keep the sugar to herself._

_It was still wrong to steal. They could just have moved the sugar to some other container._

The inner battle kept going on inside Karen all the way until half past nine when they gathered to leave the small town. At once Karen volunteered to drive - keeping focused on the road would give her an excuse not to talk to anyone. She placed Quigley in the other seat up front so he could read the map and give instructions on the fastest and best roads to take now that hey had a pointed out destination to reach. Quigley was more than happy to get to show his talent reading maps in front of the Baudelaires, and Duncan was just as happy to sit with Violet.

For all the children this was the best bus trip yet. Karen couldn't say the same.

* * *

When they arrived at the campsite they sat that it was a small, sunlit clearing in a forest. Quentin and Bertrand had been right in saying that this site was less crowded. There were only two caravans and a tent there. They parked the minibus close to a small cliff with a campfire station and a lovely ocean view.

Quentin, Karen, Bertrand and Beatrice put up the tents while the children prepared to cook hot dogs for dinner at the campfire (Sunny demanded she had to try it first in order to learn how to make the perfect hot dog.)

While they waited for a good time to eat, the whole group found a way down onto the small beach below the cliff. There the Quagmires taught the Baudelaires a game they used to play at the beach when they were younger. Soon three parts of the adult group joined, leaving only Karen, who said she wasn't feeling up to swimming.

Between the dramatic moments and insecurities of the trip, they could agree that this particular day was wonderful.

* * *

Later that night when many marshmallows were toasted, all the hot dogs were grilled and devoured and the mosquitoes and other flying insects were crowding the campfire, people in the families started dropping out and going to sleep. Sunny got in a grumpy mood when she started feeling drowsy, so Klaus left to put her to bed. When he didn't return, Isadora left too. The parents in the families departed to their tents, leaving Violet, Quigley and Duncan, who made a loose promise to go to sleep soon.

The dim firelight shone up on their faces and heated the place imagined that it would be pretty cold and dark without the controlled flames, and although she wasn't frightened by the dark, she was glad to have the Quagmires with her.

Their whole aura and mood had changed over the few days since Violet and Quigley kissed. Though Violet still felt a bit torn and unsure, she had learned how to let it go completely for a few moments. The memory of the moment on the Ferris wheel had Quigley still in a happy mood and Duncan had learned to accept Violet as nothing but a friend. Therefore the three of them talked easily, joked and roared with laughter as if it hadn't been obvious a few days before that Duncan and Quigley had an unofficial competition; of which Violet was the prize.

After half an hour, the trio was cut to two when the oldest Quagmire boy went to ease his fatigue.

Violet and Duncan continued talking as if no changes had been made to the group. It might just have been wishful thinking on Duncan's part, but he felt like the conversation had even more life.

"Quigley would never have told you that he could barely speak to girls up until a few years back," Duncan said between cackles. "He even tried to get Isadora to teach him a couple of times."

"I would never have guessed," Violet admitted. "He's so confident around everyone, and so are you and Isadora."

"We were taught to be confident and respectful." Duncan said proudly. "Personally, I think it worked out well."

"It did," Violet confirmed. "I've only known you for a few days, but I still feel like I've never met anybody as nice and confident as you three."

At this, Duncan felt himself blushing, and he was thankful the glow from the campfire already colored his face.

"I've never met anyone like you either." His mouth said the words before his mind had really decided if it was going to do it. "I mean, anyone like you _and _your siblings. But you're not _just _like them. I feel closer to you than I do to them."

All this was said at top speed and avoided eye contact. Duncan doubted whether Violet had been able to make out what he said, so he avoided looking into her ocean blue eyes in the most natural way he could think of: Grabbing a marshmallow from the bag beside him and eating it.

"Then you'll be glad to know that I enjoy spending time with you the most," Violet said softly and honestly.

Duncan swallowed the marshmallow and looked up, suddenly not hesitant to look in Violet's eyes; past the surface and deep into the ocean within them.

For Violet, it felt as though a large boulder had been lifted out of her path. Everything cleared up within one moment. She couldn't feel the doubts and thoughts deep down in her body anymore. She felt easier, like she could levitate off the ground.

Duncan quickly understood what was about to happen, and he was happy to let it. Suddenly he and Violet were inches from each other. They would both be able to count each others' eye lashes, and they felt each others' calm breath on their faces. Then they met at the lips.

It felt like the world around them melted away. There was only the two of them there, in the heat of the fire and the summer evening. If bugs climbed up their legs, if it started raining, or if another person came to the campfire they probably wouldn't have noticed. They weren't sure how long they kissed as neither of them bothered to count, but when they pulled apart, it felt like ages had passed.

Both their smiles reached their ears, and they just looked at each other, giggling in pure joy and relief. The first word spoken was a small, breathy "wow" from Duncan. He looked at Violet, his blood still pumping around making his entire body blush.

"What about you and Quigley?" He asked, not a single drop if the initial worry about Violet and his brother left.

Violet hesitated for a moment and then said,"I think I saw too much of you in him. I associate both your faces with you. Kissing him was unwise of me." She hoped that Duncan would understand, and was relieved to see that his smile was bigger than ever.

"You're forgiven," he breathed joyously. Then the two of them kissed again, this time even longer.


	11. A New Conflict

**Hiya, I'm back, and I don't have anything to say so we're diving into review responses.**

_**VeronicaWeasley - **_**YESSSSSS! When Dunclet has happened there's no room for other feelings. You'll be really happy when I tell you this, because it's finally _MONTY TIME! _**

**_Abby-E-Potter - _Thank you! No problem; it had to happen. Dunclet was just a question of time. Yes, Karen's having a bit of an inner battle about that whole deal. We'll be coming back to that soon in the story. THANK YOU for writing lengthy reviews!**

_**TUCfan -**_** Thank you, thank you, thank you! **

_**sunflowerrss -**_** Yes, we all love a bit of cheesy chemistry (at least when it's good). Thanks for understanding :). Sunny will be more included in the chapters to come (including this one). I might even give her a few alone scenes at Monty's. I've also noticed that I tend to write them apart, and also that I write more about Duncan, Quigley and Violet. I think it's because I have more ideas for what to do with them separately. I'll try to give them a scene all together.**

**Now, chapter time!**

* * *

Duncan barely slept that night. He just lay smiling beside the sleeping Quigley, replaying the events of the evening over and over in his head. Each time his smile grew wider and another butterfly appeared in his stomach. He felt a feeling he'd never known before. Anything felt possible. There wasn't one thing he wouldn't be able to do in this mindset. He had just achieved what he had earlier deemed impossible, so what could possibly stand in his way? He giggled quietly. Soon his eyelids started heavying down, but his grin stayed as solid as ever.

Suddenly he was flying over a magnificently beautiful landscape, with Violet by his side. They were surrounded by flowers, even though the ground was far below them. It was perfect.

* * *

When Duncan woke up he had to rethink the previous evening once again to determine that only the flying over flower fields had been a dream. He couldn't recall him and Violet going to the tents without one last kiss, and this was enough for him to know that it had in fact been real. He felt the need to talk to Violet again, and flew out of bed with force he had't had for a long time. Quigley stayed deep asleep as Duncan opened and exited the tent. violet and Sunny's tent was right next to them, but that too was already open. One quick look inside and Duncan saw that Sunny was alone in there.

It only took a head movement to find Violet. She was sitting at the campfire on the cliff, looking out at the ocean.

"Good morning!" Duncan called. Violet turned around and immediately got a smile on her face.

"Good morning."

Duncan came and sat down next to her. he looked out at the ocean as she had done before, and could feel nothing but accomplishment.

"I still can't believe last night actually happened," he said.

"Me neither", said Violet. "It felt like something I'd been waiting for for a long time finally happened."

"That's exactly what happened," Duncan responded happily. "From the moment I first saw you I dreamed of that."

Violet giggled, as she knew the same had happened to her.

"Never did I think _this_ is what this road trip would turn out as."

"I don't think anyone did," Duncan said. He took a deep breath of the warm summer air.

Before they both knew it, they were kissing again. This time almost felt better than last night. hey could both get used to the kisses getting better each time.

"Get a room!"

They broke apart in a second and turned around. There, a few meters away from them, stood a messy, fresh-out-of-bed Sunny with her arms crossed and a stern face. She stared at them with serious eyes.

"There are children here," she said strictly, her lack of pronunciation on the r's giving her a slightly British accent.

"We're sorry, Sunny. We didn't realize you were awake," Violet said politely.

"An'way, I wen' to mom and dad and they said we are leaving vewy soon," Sunny continued.

"We're ready to leave. You could tell them that."

Sunny nodded, happy to have something 'important to do. She skipped away to the tents.

"Maybe we should go pack up our things," Violet said to Duncan. He agreed and they also went to the tents. When Duncan entered his and Quigley's he found his brother awake and dressed for the day.

"Morning," said Quigley tiredly.

"Morning," Duncan answered, not bothering to hide the smile in his voice.

"Tiny Baudelaire bulged in and woke me up," Quigley said, pausing to laugh. "She's a fire."

"Definitely," Duncan agreed.

"And what makes you so smiley today?" Quigley asked, grinning at Duncan's generally cheerful attitude.

"I... well," Duncan started trying hard to not start chuckling and giggling again. He looked Quigley in the eyes before excitedly saying, "I kissed Violet last night."

Quigley's smile disappeared along with the excited glimt in his eyes. It was like someone had turned the lights out inside him.

"Are you-" he began, stopping himself from using a swearword. "Are you serious?"

If Duncan knew one thing in the moment it was that a fire just started fuming inside Quigley. He wished he had realized why a little earlier.

"Yeah!" he nodded enthusiastically. Quigley stared at him, a tiny hint of disbelief and disgust on his face. He shook his head subconsciously.

"I can't believe you," he said quietly but angrily.

"What?" Duncan asked, still too trapped in his bubble of miracles to understand Quigley's side of the story.

"You _knew I_ liked her," Quigley answered, still managing his anger nicely.

"And I like her too," Duncans said defensively, now that the dream bubble was being punctured. "And she likes me!"

"Do you think it means nothing when people kiss?" Quigley asked, now sounding pretty mad and offended.

"Of course it does! That-"

"Then why did she kiss me if she likes you so much?"

"Because she saw me in your face, she told me!" Duncan explained distressedly.

"Still," Quigley either didn't listen or didn't take in Duncan's words, "going out and kissing her after we had kissed, and not even talked about not being together like that is a pretty messed up thing to do."

"She thought you'd understand she didn't want that when you two didn't even hug after the kiss!"

"Well, guess what, I DIDN'T! I thought I had something with her that hadn't happened before!"

"Then shouldn't something more than _one kiss_ have happened?"

"Ugh!" Quigley chucked his reading book into his bag with such force it might have broken something. "Something you're just too much." He left the tent.

* * *

Everyone took he same places in the bus as the day before, however the mood in there was not like the day before. Instead of rambling about what route to take and for what smart reason, Quigley simply said "left", "forward", "next turn" in a stern, short voice. Karen had eased up a little over the night, but still hesitated when figuring out what to say to Beatrice. His and Quigley's argument has put Duncan in a bit of an insecure position and while he still chatted with Violet he didn't so do whole-heartedly. The only one who really could be heard in the bus was Sunny, who was in a babbling mood where she held nothing back. She even mentioned seeing Duncan and Violet kiss (Quigley said "left" loudly and waspishly at that moment, and a spear of guilt hit Violet.) Without the toddler's constant chatter, the minibus would have been as cheerful as a funeral though, so the crowd was happy to have the little voice talk and talk.

After a couple of hours Sunny got tired of speaking, and the bus went as quiet as it Klaus and Isadora and Violet and Duncan had conversations, but it sounded to the others like only a blur or murmurs. It was only Quigley's occasional "right", "onto the highway" and "left" that the whole minibus could hear.

Only when they stopped for gas, a snack and a toilet break did they make decisions. Beatrice wanted to stay at one last campsite or motel, but Quigley rejected that by saying that would mean they would have to go a one hour-long detour to get to the nearest one. Then it was decided that they would go straight to Montgomery's house next. It would take them a couple of hours, but no one wanted to make that detour. They had to make it through the silence of the bus instead.

* * *

Karen, Quentin, Bertrand and Beatrice knew instantly that they ere on the right track when they smelled horseradish nearby. Isadora rolled up her window with the comment, "It smells like those medicine apples you forced us to eat when we were little". Quentin answered this with, "Honey, those weren't medicine apples, they were apples tinted with the antidote against a deadly fungi."

The further down the Lousy Lane they got, the more the strong smell seemed to find ways into the minibus. This didn't put anyone in a better mood.

What did put them in a better mood was the sight of the roof of a house. The smell outside died away as a massive gate opened for them, revealing a garden adorned with snake shaped bushes and a big house with an even bigger glass room behind it. Even Karen and Quigley smiled when they parked on the large path.

They were finally at Montgomery's.


	12. The Wise Words of Monty

**I'm sorry for the little-longer-than-usual while you had to wait for this chapter! I've just not been in the mood to write recently. But before we get into this chapter there's two things that need to be done.**

**1: If you haven't noticed, I have just started a story for the Marauders' Era of Harry Potter. It's called ****_We Solemnly Swear to be Friends Until the End, _****and is about the Marauders' school years. I would be very thankful and happy if you checked it out and reviewed it. Thank you if you do!**

**2: The review responses, of course.**

_**VeronicaWeasley -**_** FINALLY! You've been waiting so long! Of course, we need drama. Without things happening, a story would be very dull. Sometimes making a story not-dull requires making the main characters be a little bit stupid instead. Thank you very much! I too felt that that part turned out good. Good thing that you said that, because I had completely forgotten about them and how they view the Violet-Duncan-Quigley story. Gonna make sure to include that in this chapter. Thank you!**

_**Abby-E-Potter -**_** I've already thanked you over PM for correcting those mistakes, but thanks again. Thank you for what you said about the chapter in itself! And no, I'm not offended by people correcting grammar mistakes. I am inordinately thankful for those people. If you notice any more grammar mistakes in future chapters, please point them out!**

_**sunflowerrss -**_** Making my readers feel things while reading is what I aspire to do. YAY FOR DUNCLET, THOUGH! How could I not include Sunny when people ask me to put her in? We all love our Tiny Baudelaire. I always try to connect little things from the books/show into the story as little Easter eggs :)**

_**TUCfan -**_** We all know that Duncan is the right one for Violet, but that doesn't mean we don't feel bad for Quigley. Thank you! I am very aware that I should include more Kladora, as I tend to forget them in the middle of my Dunclet/Quiglet drama. In this chapter you will surely see Kladora though!**

_**Anonymous -**_** Yes, I will try to include Violet and Isadora talking more! I hope you had a fun 4th of July!**

_**VfdAgent -**_** Thank you so incredibly much. Thank you beyond words! Your review made my day, as that is exactly what I try to do, and admire when other writers do. Thank you again.**

_**1d10eque -**_** Thank you! I'm happy that you found one of these that you like, and I am happy that it is mine you like! Thank you very very much for the compliment about my writing. Reviews like these make my day.**

**Now for the chapter!**

* * *

For a few moments Karen forgot entirely about the sugar bowl and the poison darts, and Quigley forgot he had problems with Violet and Duncan. Excitement took over way more than they had anticipated, especially for Karen, when they saw Montgomery's house. The Volunteer Fire Department hadn't sent the Quagmires and Montgomery on any missions together recently, neither had any trouble occurred that concerned both all of them. For those reasons they hadn't seen him for two years.

For Beatrice and Bertrand the situation felt possibly even better. They hadn't seen anyone from the organisation since they left almost fifteen years before. Ishmael wouldn't allow it back then. But now, with him having disappeared years ago, and now that she had another couple who had left the organisation by her side, there was a certain feeling of freedom, and they knew they could finally see everyone again. Beatrice was excited, yet nervous. A lot couple have happened over fifteen years. They could be walking into the house of a completely new Monty. One thing was clear though: Monty still studied snakes and reptiles.

"Are you ready?" asked Bertrand, smiling excitedly.

"As ready as I can be," Beatrice took a deep breath.

"Who will do the honors?" Quentin said, nodding toward the doorbell.

As it turned out, no one needed to. Violet had barely volunteered when the door flew open.

A man, grinning from ear to ear stood in the doorway. He had a vibe of confidence and joy around him that made him look tall and mighty, when in reality he was pretty short compared to the Baudelaires and Quagmires. His hair lay in black curls under a brown hat that matched his coat, and his almond-shaped eyes were wide and filled to the top with curiosity. Above his mouth was a little moustache that was just as curly as his hair.

"Hello, hello, hello visitors," his voice was as delighted as he looked. His eyes fell on Beatrice, Bertrand, Quentin and Karen. "I can't believe it." His voice still sounded as if he was giving an inspirational speech.

"Hi Monty," Beatrice said grinningly.

It seemed, after all, that nothing had changed about Monty. It was a relieving feeling to know that, and now Beatrice felt like it had only been a week since she drank tea with Monty last.

"Beatrice and Bertrand Baudelaire," continued Monty, "along with Quentin and Karen Quagmire. How long was it since last?"

"Almost fifteen years," Beatrice said. She added "somehow" as a happy afterthought.

"Well, I am absolutely delighted to see you again," Monty told them. "And I am just as delighted to see that you brought your children." He looked down at the children, who were all wearing smiles. "What might your names be?"

"I'm Violet Baudelaire," Violet began. "This is my brother Klaus, and this is my sister Sunny."

"Oh, I could have guessed that you were a Baudelaire, Violet," Monty said with a friendly smirk. "You look much like your father, and so does your brother." He gave them a final smile before looking at the Quagmires instead. He nodded to them, inviting them to tell who they were.

"We're Isadora, Quigley and Duncan Quagmire," Isadora said while Quigley shook Monty's hand and Duncan nodded politely. "Quigley's the one with the longer hair." This was the differentiating factor Isadora always used to let others know which triplet was which.

"Ah, yes," Monty said, beaming at the children like they were his own and had just won some grand competition. "I've met you children once before, but you were so small you were barely older than my youngest tortoise. Now you look so mature and intelligent."

"Trust us, they are," Karen said proudly.

"I wouldn't think for a second that your parenting techniques would fail you."

"Thank you, Monty."

The group simply smiled at each other for a few seconds before Monty did a welcoming gesture and said loudly: "Come in, come in. You know you've come at a really fortunate time as I just finished frosting a freshly baked coconut cream cake. I'll ask Gustav to make us some tea. He led the group up a staircase and into a fancy dining room. "Sit down, sit down, make yourselves at home. I'll get the cake."

The Quagmires and Baudelaires gladly took seats at the long table as Monty disappeared into the next room through a large grand-looking door.

"Does Montgomery have children?" Klaus asked inquisitively.

"No," answered Quentin. "He went down a path other than starting a family."

"Then why does he have such a long table?"

"He enjoyed hosting dinners when the V.F.D. was still a fully friendly organisation," Beatrice answered (Karen's glee from meeting Monty disappeared that moment). Beatrice leaned toward the six children. "Once me, him and Bertrand got stuck inside a piano during a dinner party."

The children and her laughed, and Bertrand grinned, looking moderately embarrassed. Through the big doorway came Monty, now carrying a magnificent white cake. Behind him walked a tall, handsome man who was carrying two trays, each holding six cups of tea. The children guessed this was the Gustav Monty had mentioned before. This was confirmed when Quentin next spoke.

"Gustav! Glad to see you're still working with Monty!"

"How could I quit?" Gustav asked calmly but cheerfully. "Only perks come with working for Monty Montgomery."

"Thank you very much Gustav!" Monty beamed again. He began cutting the cake into astonishingly alike-in-size pieces. "It would only seem right to let the bambinis of our company to eat first. Klaus and Isadora, who were sitting closest to Monty and the cake, held out their plates. Monty put a piece on each.

"Forgive me if I'm wrong," he leaned toward them and whispered so their parents wouldn't hear, "but am I right in guessing there's more to this group than friendship?"

After that comment Karen wasn't the only frowning Quagmire at the table. Klaus and Isadora saw no meaning in hiding their relationship, and joined hands. Duncan giggled under his breath and Violet smiled. When Monty turned away, she glanced discreetly at Quigley. He sat with his arms and legs crossed in a stern and stiff way Violet had never seen before. His eyes seemed very determined not to move at all, and his mouth was thin as a line. Monty took no notice of this.

"Enjoy!" he said effulgently. He and Gustav sat down at the table and helped themselves to tea and cake. "Now, tell me. What have you been up to for all these years?"

The question threw the adults into a lengthy conversation. They talked about everything from adventures within the V.F.D. to the children, who themselves talked about a lot of things. Especially Sunny talked very much again, now that she had new energy. Quigley didn't speak much. He sat in silence, busying himself by looking out the window with an irritable look on his face. Violet tried several times to rope him into the conversation by asking questions such as "What do you think, Quigley?" and "Quigley, do you agree?", but she only got "it's great" and "yeah" as answers. She had long back understood that Quigley knew about her and Duncan. It was also apparent that he took what had happened as a personal insult.

After everyone finished eating cake and drinking tea, Monty took them on a house tour, which Quigley strategically skipped in order to get some time alone in a room which door he could close.

This caused him to miss out on seeing the glass room at the back. _The Reptile Room_. Quentin, Bertrand, Karen and Beatrice were all struck by joy at the sight of the familiar room. The children were amazed. Violet and Duncan set off to look at all the reptiles; Isadora happily followed Klaus to the library section; and Sunny went around declaring every snake and lizard her best friend, until she found the Incredibly Deadly Viper - a very friendly snake. Stars appeared in her eyes when she saw it.

At the end of the tour Bertrand revealed that they had no plans on what to do next on the road trip. Monty responded by immediately inviting them to sleep at his house that night. After that all the important and necessary pieces of luggage were moved into the three guest rooms. A rash decision and someone volunteering to have Sunny in their room led to the toddler sharing a room with Klaus and Isadora, and Violet, Quigley and Duncan sharing the other room Monty had given the children. Quigley disappeared to somewhere in the house as soon as he had left his bag in the room. Violet couldn't shake off the guilt even if she tried her hardest to just have a good time with Duncan, Klaus and Isadora.

Meanwhile Karen struggled with a thought that had popped into her head out of nowhere during the house tour. She hadn't thought about it like that before, even with all the times her mind had ran through the Beatrice situation. Now she wished with all she had that she could undo thinking it, because it was clogging up everything else.

_Beatrice had committed murder._

* * *

Night fell fast. Gustav left at nine pm, and after that everyone readied themselves for bed. Only two were already asleep. Sunny got tired at eight, and no one was quite sure when Quigley had gone to bed.

Both Duncan and Violet and Klaus and Isadora took these opportunities of rooms to themselves to talk long into the late evening. Especially Klaus and Isadora were babbling away. They had lots of things that had happened over the day to discuss. Though there was one topic they both knew would come up sooner than later that they both kept trying to avoid. It was long after Violet and Duncan's voices had died out and their light was turned out when Isadora bit the bullet.

"Klaus? Have you noticed Quigley?"

Klaus's face wrinkled. "Yes. He barely spoke today. And he disappeared when Montgomery showed us around." He stopped for a few seconds. "Do you know why?"

Isadora shook her head. "I have no idea. It's not only him who's been strange. Do you remember the day after the fair?" - Klaus nodded - "Duncan looked devastated and Violet was in constant thought, but Quigley was on cloud nine. Now it's like they've switched. Have you any idea what's happened?"

"None. Has Violet told you anything?"

Isadora felt like Klaus had read her mind.

"Yes, she has. In the evening after the fair, she told me" - she hesitated on saying it - "that she and Quigley kissed, but that she wasn't sure what to feel about it."

"Do you think she's come to a conclusion?"

"It certainly seems so. But I don't think Quigley likes it."

"But Duncan does."

Isadora nodded.

"Do you think there's anything we can do to help?" Klaus asked.

Isadora shrugged. She said something about going to sleep and wished Klaus goodnight. The two of them lay down in their beds and went to sleep, thinking they were the last to do so. They were wrong.

Quigley crept down he staircase, not entirely sure where he was headed. He hadn't been able to sleep for many reasons, the prominent one being the thought flurry in his mind keeping him from resting properly. He quietly turned a corner and ended up facing a door with many security measures. He turned the doorknob out of instinct, and was happy to find that the many gears and scans were fake. The room that awaited him was quite clearly the one made out of glass at the back of the house. Big as the floor plan of the rest of the villa and filled with reptiles stirring in their terrariums. Quigley's mind let him be pleasantly surprised for a few moments, and he began exploring.

His short-lived joy lasted until he reached the desk in the east wing of the room. On a small piece of paper ripped from a nearby book, two different writing styles had scribbled D.Q. and V.B. with a plus sign between them.

Anger bubbled up inside Quigley again, and his sudden fiery instincts told him to kick the side of the desk. He did. The desk gave a satisfactory rattle. Quigley exhaled out loud before kicking it again.

"Quigley!" said a sharp voice, yet it wasn't mad or strict.

Quigley's head hastily snapped up to look over the room. He spotted Monty standing in the doorway to the Reptile Room.

"I'm... sorry," Quigley quickly said, avoiding eye contact with Monty. "I just... couldn't sleep and had to stroll around a bit."

"And is that why you're kicking my furniture?" asked Monty. There was a slight tone of amusement in his voice.

Quigley deemed it safe to look up at Monty. The herpetologist had not tilted his head forward, and was giving Quigley a certain look. They both snorted.

"Now what's keeping you up, Quagmire bambini?"

Normally, Quigley would have lied and got out of the room as fast as possible, but he had a feeling he could trust Monty.

"Just something that's happened between me, Violet and Duncan."

"Would you care to explain?"

Before Quigley had the time to ponder and hesitate, he had told Monty about everything from the Ferris wheel to Duncan's confession. Monty had listened politely.

"Have you thought about it from Duncan's point of view?" Monty asked when Quigley was done. This question took Quigley by surprise.

"No..."

"I suggest you should," Monty said, sounding wise.

Quigley tried to put the situation into another perspective. He tried to think like his brother, but it all ended in the same way as always.

"I'm sure you'll see it's all just a-"

"Betrayal," Quigley cut Monty off.

"_I_ was going to say _misunderstanding_."

Quigley frowned at Monty, who immediately began explaining.

"You both see this girl, and you both think she's very, _very_ nice. _You_ kiss her first, and Duncan feels he has lost. Then Violet kisses him too and suddenly _he's_ over the moon because he won."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't give him a reason to kiss her before we've officially said that we're not a thing," Quigley complained. "But of course he doesn't understand that, because I've always been the one who's had better luck with girls."

Monty chuckled.

"Oh, I think that might be the precise reason that he's so happy now. You've always had the luck, but now he finally had it. While it wasn't the nicest thing of your brother to do, I think you should try to be happy for him instead of calling him a traitor."

A new light was turned on in Quigley's mind once he found himself taking in Monty's words. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah... Thanks Monty."


	13. The End of the Road

**Sorry for the long wait! School's started, and I've not had any motivation, but now I'm here again! **

**We have officially reached the end of Out on the Road! This is the last chapter. It's kind of sad to think that. But let's not be sad just yet! Let's instead do some review responses.**

_**Abby-E-Potter -**_** Thank you very much! We want happiness for everyone, but that's not how the story goes. Sunny will be getting more attention! Your reviews have never come off as mean, and I don't think they ever will. More often than not they make my day.**

_**1d10teque -**_**In the show we only get to see Monty be cheerful and eccentric, so I decided to show the calmer side of him. I'm glad you liked it. I don't think any of the villains will be included in the story. Thank you!**

_**SkiGirl121 -**_** Personally, I especially love Dunclet, as you may have noticed (they've gotten more attention). Thanks for everything you wrote!**

_**TUCfan -**_** It might just be... Thanks a lot!**

**_sunflowerrss_ \- I knooooow, and I'm glad you thought so too. Thank you very much for all you said there. I knew I wanted Monty to have a bigger part in the story as soon as Veronica suggested he joined it!**

_**Number Ten -**_** Indeed it is.**

_**akheeres33 -**_** Thanks a lot! I would include more Kladora, but the thing is I don't know what more I can add. I finished their part of this story pretty early on...**

_**Dylan Quagmire -**_** Firstly: Great name! Secondly: Thanks a lot! I know I finished Kladora's story line pretty early on, and that's why there's less of that. As we're reaching the end, I don't know how much more I'll fit in the story. **

_**A1Heeres -**_** Your wish is my command!**

**Now for the story!**

* * *

The next morning Duncan and Violet were the last to wake up. Monty proved how great he was with house guests by getting up early to make breakfast. Beatrice and Quentin both decided to join him in that, while Bertrand read and Karen went out for a walk. Klaus and Isadora woke up when Sunny did - she was very loud. She went directly to the others' bedroom and fetched Quigley for a playmate. So when the last two woke up, it was to find the house pretty noisy.

"Lively morning," said Duncan groggily. He used his arms to hoist himself into a sitting position.

"Certainly," Violet answered. "Do you think there's any breakfast?"

"We got cake as soon as we got through the door. I'll be surprised if we get no breakfast."

Violet smiled and the two got themselves off their beds. When they went out the open bedroom door they could immediately see Klaus and Isadora relaxing and chatting at the bottom of the staircase.

"Good morning," Violet said.

"Good morning!" Klaus and Isadora responded together. Now a nice-looking sandwich was visible in Isadora's hand.

"Monty's made one for us each," she informed Violet and Duncan when she saw them looking at it.

"That sounds lovely," Violet said.

She and Duncan had just turned to walk to the kitchen when Isadora was suddenly behind them. She waved an empty glass in her hand and said, "I need a refill." Not long after at all, more footsteps were heard running up the stairs. Duncan and Violet, who had been expecting to see Klaus coming, were mildly surprised to see Quigley hurrying up the last steps.

"Good morning," said Violet friendily.

"Can I talk to you?" Quigley asked abruptly.

"Um... yes, of course," Violet answered, slightly taken aback at the sudden question.

Quigley gestured for her to follow him into the closest bedroom. He stopped halfway and turned around. For a couple of seconds he looked to be debating something. Then he waved at Duncan to follow him too. Violet and Duncan exchanged looks before walking into Klaus and Isadora's bedroom. Quigley shut the door.

"Look," he turned to them and went quiet for a bit. Once again, it seemed he was debating something with himself. Violet and Duncan put a little distance between each other. "I'm okay with you two... well - you two being together."

He looked kind of awkward standing there, fiddling his fingers and talking to the wall between the others.

Duncan smirked, both in gratitude and surprise. This was most unlike Quigley. He had been half-expecting Quigley to hold a grudge against him for the future few months.

"Thanks, Quigley."

Quigley forced a smile.

"Well, another day will come, I suppose," he said. The other two nodded.

"This was great of you Quigley," Violet said. "I appreciate it."

"What else was there I could do?" he asked. "But, please; don't get _too_ wrapped up in each other. I'd like to have someone to spend this road trip with who isn't three years old."

They all laughed moderately, the situation still bearing the air of three people who were just talking about a dramatic falling-out. Then there was silence. Quigley nodded subconsciously, he and Duncan pursed smiles at each other, and Violet looked between them.

"I think we're gonna go get breakfast now," she said slowly.

"Oh yeah... sure," Quigley said. "See you later."

Violet grabbed Duncan by the hand and led the pair of them out of the bedroom. Quigley watched them disappear. Now after he had done it, he completely understood why Monty had thought he ought to do it. A darkness had just moved out of his chest. Something was past him. He could breathe properly.

He went out of the little bedroom, and he felt like he was stepping into a different hallway than the one he left a few minutes earlier. He could hear Duncan and Violet, and probably Klaus and Isadora as well, preparing their breakfast in the kitchen. Instead of joining them in there, he ran down the stairs and made a sharp turn to go into the Reptile Room.

"Finally!" Sunny exclaimed. "Gross business finished, now let's get back to impotant stuff!"

Quigley couldn't help but chuckle at the tiny toddler, sitting on the steps up to the library wing with the Incredibly Deadly Viper wrapped around her arms. His laugh seemed to lighten her up a bit too.

"Good. Now you'll be fun," she stated. "You were boring earlier."

Her words were true. Quigley had not been the best playmate for a small child. Because of him, Sunny had now learned a word that Beatrice and Bertrand certainly wouldn't allow in their house. In the middle of his muttering about Duncan and Violet, and "_problems you wouldn't understand, Sunny_", he had kind of slipped out of control.

"Just go and fix it!" Sunny had demanded of him. These words had had more impact than he ever would have expected on him. After that was when he went up the stairs to grab Violet and Duncan.

"He doesn't wan' more strawberries," Sunny told Quigley. She pushed away a small box of strikingly red strawberries with her foot. "Get the mango."

Quigley instantly obeyed, and seized the bowl of yellow fruit from the turtles' enclosure. He strutted to Sunny and the snake and put the mangoes beside them.

"Didn't Beatrice tell you _not_ to get attached to any of the reptiles?" Quigley asked Sunny, mildly amused.

"I remember no such ting," Sunny shook her head mightily. "Snakey's my best friend."

"But we're leaving in an hour or so. You'll have to say goodbye."

"We'll meet again. It's not like tis is te last time we're going here."

Quigley only nodded and snorted. This wasn't the first time he was surprised by her wisdom and maturity for her age. He thought back at himself as a three-year-old and concluded that he would definitely have thrown at fit at the prospect of having to say goodbye to his newly found best friend.

"You really are one special toddler, you know," he told Sunny.

"Of course. How could I not be?" Sunny responded nonchalantly; like she had this told to her every day.

"You're cool for being three years old."

Sunny looked up at him with a look of being bored but slightly amused.

"I know."

If someone had told Quigley a week ago that at the end of this road trip the two best friends he would make would be his brother's girlfriend and an awesome toddler girl, he would not have believed them.

* * *

Karen strolled down the garden path behind the Reptile Room. She truly hadn't appreciated the beauty of Monty's garden enough. It was ginormous, filled with flowers and reptile-shaped bushes, and truly made her feel calm.

The worst shock that was left from Beatrice's confession had disappeared. Now it was just the aftermath that left her unable to look her friend directly in the eye. Therefore she had retreated to the garden at the back of the house. She had actually managed to have quite a good time finding her way through the maze, but was disappointed to find nothing but an empty podium in the middle. Now she instead ambled down one of the many paths.

Then she heard footsteps; someone running to catch up with her. The sound of the footsteps she didn't immediately recognize, and so she easily concluded it was a Baudelaire behind her. She didn't turn her head to see who.

"Karen!"

Beatrice's voice. Karen took a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever conversation was coming. She turned around when she felt Beatrice's hand on her shoulder.

"Beatrice," she said firmly.

Beatrice looked like she had been running around. She took several small breaths before she said:

"I've been looking everywhere for you! We need to talk."

Some part of Karen had expected this would happen sooner or later. There was no way Beatrice would miss the fact that she had been distant.

"What's been up with you lately?" Beatrice asked, slightly distressed. "Ever since I told you about the poison darts you've barely had any contact with any of us."

"I'm well aware," Karen answered casually. "I've been thinking about it."

"I'm guessing you didn't come to a pleasant conclusion."

Karen didn't answer immediately. She fixated her eyes on a bush carved to look like a serpent slightly beside Beatrice's ear.

"Beatrice, you committed murder," she then said. "I hope you understand that it's difficult to think of anything else when I see you at the moment."

Beatrice's expression remained concerned. Now she too avoided eye contact.

"For a few hours, all I could think when I saw you was 'the woman who murdered a man'," Karen kept going. She wasn't sure why she was all of a sudden telling Beatrice everything, but in the moment it seemed like the right thing to do.

"Don't you think I've thought the same thing?" Beatrice abruptly said. "For years I couldn't sleep knowing what I had done. Do you think I just brushed it off?"

"Oh... of course not," a new light shone down on the situation. Karen had barely thought about it from Beatrice's point of view.

"There are still nights when the thought comes back, and trust me, I have never felt such regret," Beatrice continued. "Do you understand me?"

She didn't have to wait for an answer, as right at that moment, Karen threw her arms around her best friend.

"I do. I really do."

She let go, and noticed first now that tears had started streaming down her cheeks.

"I am so _incredibly_ sorry. I've been such a wrench, and I haven't even thought about you. Oh, I'm sorry!"

Beatrice smiled as her eyes also got watery. Having someone truly understand her feelings was wonderful.

* * *

Once an hour had passed, the bags had been packed and Sunny's goodbyes to the Deadly Viper were finished, the two families were about ready to drive back home to Coastal Park Town. They stood out on the cobblestone circle in front of Monty's house, saying goodbye to him and Gustav. Karen and Beatrice were stuffing everything into the bagage slot of the minibus, Bertrand and Quentin were deep in conversation with Monty, the five older children spoke with each other by the bus, and Sunny played with the Incredibly Deadly Viper, which now rested on Gustav's back.

"Thank you, Monty, for letting us stay over the night," Quentin said.

"Oh, I don't mind, I don't mind. The more the merrier!" Monty happily responded. "How could I not have let you stay? In fact, I would be more than glad to let you come back some time, seeing as you all liked it here so much. Especially small Miss Baudelaire I think would love to come back."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Sunny cried, hopping up and down next to Gustav and the Viper.

"Then I suggest you bring her back here some time, Bertrand. She has grown quite close with that snake."

"We certainly will come back. We'll visit not only you, but everyone we can. You're welcome to join us if you want to," Bertrand offered.

"I'd be delighted."

"Right now we're headed back to Coastal Park Town, but we were thinking that we could some day visit Josephine, or the Snickets," Quentin informed him.

"Just let me know when you've got it planned, and I'll send word back if I'm coming with," Monty declared.

A bit away from them, Violet, Klaus, Isadora, Quigley and Duncan stood gathered by the bus, deep into conversation. Once again, they were discussing the happenings of the road trip, but only carefully picked out subjects that would hurt no one. The night at the restaurant was a topic for quite a while. Until what would happen once they got home took over the conversation.

"We'll have to see each other again," Isadora decided for all of them. No one disagreed.

"Where do you live, Baudelaires?" Quigley asked.

"Couture Avenue," Violet said. "It's a bit away from you, but we can always come over."

"Or we can meet somewhere else. Like the park," Klaus suggested.

"That sounds perfect," Duncan stated.

"We can try out some of my inventions," Violet said.

"I could write about them," said Duncan.

"Please do," Violet smiled.

The two joined hands.

"I'm gonna miss not seeing you three everyday," Isadora said. She smiled heartily at Violet and Klaus.

"We'll miss you too, but we will see each other again," Violet answered her.

"Well, I think it's time to be off," Quentin said loudly enough for everyone to hear him.

Duncan looked over his shoulder to see his dad shake hands with Monty. Bertrand waved him off while he walked to the minibus, and Sunny gave the Incredibly Deadly Viper a hug. Duncan himself followed the others onto the bus and sat down with Violet.

"Bye Vipey!" Sunny shouted. She leaned over Quigley, who she was sitting next to in order to look out the window and wave in an exaggerated way to the snake.

Duncan could have sworn he heard the snake hiss back at her. Then Bertrand put the minibus into motion. Everyone waved one last time to Monty and Gustav (and Sunny to the snake). They drove down the road, and everyone made sure the windows were all closed as they entered Lousy Lane. The smell only slightly found its way in, and Sunny made the decision that they were going to play I Spy With My Little Eye to distract themselves. Everyone participated in the first few rounds, but Duncan soon zoned out of the game and looked out the window. They were out of Lousy Lane by that time, so he got to view the large Lake Lachrymose instead of the dead trees.

In his head, he walked down the memory lane of the road trip. He often viewed particular threads of memories as roads, and the one from the preceding week was certainly a rocky one. Now he got to think about the things that they hadn't discussed on Monty's cobble circle. Everything that had happened with and to him. All the ups and downs. A flower blossomed within him when he thought about the first time he met Violet. He felt like someone punched him in the stomach when he remembered the night when Quigley told him he kissed Violet. The thought that he had in the end ended up with Violet let the flower inside him grow bigger. He imagined the flower as a violet.

In the end, all of them could agree that the road trip had been a success. It also was now certain that it wasn't the last one they would be taking. A new life began the day they all met for the road trip, and none of them could wait to live it.

* * *

**That's it! Out on the Road is over... Wow... That's kind of scary. I will tell you more in Let's Talk, which will be posted either today or tomorrow! **


	14. Let's Talk

**Here's Let's Talk! That final chapter where I get to speak as an author instead of just storytelling. For those of you who don't know, Let's Talk is where I explain things like where I got the idea for this story, special plot points, and I break down some scenes. We've got quite a lot to talk about! Let's get into it! Let's talk about Out on the Road!**

* * *

I've never felt like this while writing Let's Talk. Out on the Road has been the story during which I've gotten the most reviews, favorites and follows, and just generally the most support. It's weird letting it go now.

One really crazy thing is that at the moment this story has 5 490 views! That's completely insane, and I've just got to thank everyone who took time out of their days to read.

As you know, in chapter 8 I asked what story you want to see next. _Finding the Baudelaires_ or _A Slightly Changed Series of Unfortunate Events_. Finding the Baudelaires got four votes, and A Slightly Changed Series of Unfortunate Events got six votes. So the next story you'll see from me in this fandom is ASCSOUE! Though that won't be for a while. I'm finishing off some stories over in the NRDD fandom, and then I've got a couple of other stories I'm really excited about writing over there. We'll see when I get back.

Now let's get into the part of Let's Talk which actually has a layout!

Inspiration and Ideas

I don't know where it came from, but around August 2019, I got a bunch of ideas surrounding road trips. There's just something fun about writing about road trips. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I guess I thought, "hey, what would happen if the Baudelaires and Quagmires went on a road trip together?", and this story was born.

I had two ideas immediately. Two of the scenes in this story were thought out from the beginning.

1: Quigley's confession to Duncan about kissing Violet.

2: Duncan and Violet's first kiss at the campfire.

So let's talk about those.

Quigley's confession

Those of you who have seen the Netflix movie Tall Girl might have recognized this scene. It is very much inspired by the scene where Stig tells Jack that he kissed Jodi. While I was rewatching Tall Girl I had the random thought: "This scene could fit Quigley and Duncan."

Duncan and Violet's kiss

When going to sleep, I always make scenarios in my head. Sometimes they're about me, sometimes they're about stories and characters. On one particular night I was in a particularly Series-of-Unfortunate-Events-ey mood, and I had the particular idea that Violet and Duncan would kiss by a campfire.

All the other things that happened

The theme park: This was a random idea that I came up with while trying to figure out where Quigley and Violet would kiss. The story of how I came up with it is an interesting one. Anyone who has played Goat Simulator will know about the town called Goat City Bay. In that town there is a theme park on a pier, and it has a big Ferris wheel. That's where I got the idea. I got an idea for my story about intelligent teenagers on a road trip from a game where you play as a strange goat. Not everyone can tell you that.

Klaus and Isadora's kiss: This scene was the writing version of improvising on stage. I just made things up as I went, and you all loved it! I'm very happy with how it turned out as well.

The whole Beatrice story line: I'm not sure where this came from. It just kind of happened. I wanted to do something with the parents, and this came to mind. I like it though. Bertrand and Quentin were kind of in the background during the entire story. Hope none of you have Bertrand and Quentin as your favorites.

**Explain the Chapter**

_14 Years Since Last  
_Chapter Summary \- On a casual afternoon, Beatrice Baudelaire gets a phone call from her best friend Karen Quagmire, whom she hasn't seen for 14 years.

I would like to call this "The Lonely Chapter", because once I had posted this, it took me six months to post the next chapter. It took pretty much exactly one year to finish this story. I think this was a great start to the story.

_Love at First Sight  
_Chapter Summary \- The two families meet each other, and sparks fly between the five older kids.

I remember that this chapter was pretty much entirely improvised. It was the one that I posted on March 20th, so I had a deadline to face. It's pretty good though if you ask me.

_The First Hours  
_Chapter Summary \- On their way to the first stop of the road trip, the adults catch up and the children get to know each other.

I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I just got to make up facts about the characters and make them have a nice conversation about it.

_A Plain Walk in the Forest  
_Chapter Summary \- Once they're finished setting up their camp for the night, the group take a walk in the forest.

Filler chapter alert! I felt it was too early to get into the real story points, so I threw this together.

_Initials  
_Chapter Summary \- The next morning, Sunny shows off her chef skills, the Quagmires bicker a bit, and Violet finds some very interesting letters written in Duncan's book.

This was what I had been looking forward to. I loved implementing small things from the show into this story. The initials in the red herring are adorable, so I had to put them in here as well.

_Happenings at the Wonderfair  
_Chapter Summary \- The group goes to a theme park to spend their day. Klaus and Isadora grow closer while Violet and Quigley share a moment on the Ferris wheel.

This chapter in its entirety was the most fun write. So many things happened, and each one of them pushed the story further.

_Confessions  
_Chapter Summary \- An item at the Wonderfair births a great concern in Beatrice. Both Violet and Quigley makes confessions to their roommates, to different reactions.

This chapter was the easiest to write, seeing as I had pretty much already written it in my head, and had already watched it in a movie. It turned out great in my opinion, and from what I can tell from reviews, you also thought it was great. Everyone was saying how bad they felt for Duncan.

_The Particularly Perfect Moment  
_Chapter Summary \- The families go to a nice restaurant, which improves the moods of Violet and Duncan, and strikes up a moment between Klaus and Isadora.

Kladora stuff; everyone's favorite! Here was another nod to the show, with the Pasta Puttanesca.

_Motel of Admitting Secrets  
_Chapter Summary \- While Isadora and Violet discuss Isadora's kiss with Klaus, a slightly drunk Beatrice confesses to Karen what happened on the Night of the Poison Darts.

And here we struck up the second big conflict of the story. I don't know whether I had planned this or if I just randomly decided that, "Yep, she's confessing now."

_In the Heat of the Campfire  
_Chapter Summary \- As Karen grows distant to Beatrice, Violet finally makes her decision between the Quagmire brothers.

This chapter was also very easy to write. I only struggled with the conversation before Quigley left. Then of course, as you know, we finally get our Dunclet moment. Because Dunclet is better than Quiglet; no matter what y'all Quiglet shippers say.

_A New Conflict  
_Chapter Summary \- A delighted Duncan tells Quigley what happened the previous evening. It doesn't turn out as he expected.

I remember that this chapter also just flowed out from my pen. I faced no struggles and could just imagine everything clearly. That was really nice.

_The Wise Words of Monty  
_Chapter Summary \- The families finally reach Monty Montgomery's house. They eat cake, Sunny finds new friends, and Monty talks to Quigley.

Monty and Quigley's talk was my favorite scene to write in the entire story. I don't know what it is about it, but it was just so nice to write. I really felt like I got the characters, things were wrapped up nicely, and it was a great moment.

_The End of the Road  
_Chapter Summary \- At the end of the road trip Quigley finally accepts Duncan and Violet's relationship, and Beatrice confronts Karen about her distant behavior.

I wrote one part of this in July (Quigley accepting Duncan and Violet), and the rest during my food and nutrition class (I go to a school which focuses on cooking and learning about food and restaurants and stuff)... in September. If the two parts of the chapter seem a bit disconnected - you now know why. I was planning on writing one more chapter, but then I fit everything into chapter 13. So the end was just as unexpected for me as for everyone else. It's a bit sad that it's over.

But now I'm excited about writing some other stuff, with other characters. I'm now moving back to the Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn fandom for a while. We'll see when I get back.

**Thank youuuu!**

Almost 5 500 views... This is insane. I don't have the words to say thank you enough. So instead I'm just gonna assume you understand how thankful I am, and I'm gonna get straight to special thank yous.

Thanks a heck lot to 1d10teque, AHunterofArtemis1507, Abby-E-Potter, Anonymoose666, AnonymousRebel1103, Danceurlifeaway2, Dylan Quagmire, Fanficloverforever2005, HarleyOfTheSand, Kat Princess 3103, Marthmello, Number 10, SkiGirl121, VeronicaWeasley, VfdAgent, Vi Baudelaire, XxJOYCExX, .0529, sunflowerrss and uncoolfanboy for following! 20 people followed this, and to me that is crazy. Y'all are awesome, thank you so freaking much.

Thanks even more to 1d10teque, Anonymoose666, AnonymousRebel1103, Danceurlifeaway2, Dylan Quagmire, Fanficloverforever2005, Fizzydrop200, JASMINE, Marthmello, Number Ten, ParisEra, Shadow77776666, Sheriff100, SkiGirl121, TUCfan, VeronicaWeasley, VfdAgent, Vi Baudelaire, XxJOYCExX, sunflowerrss, supremefangirl18 and uncoolfanboy for favoriting! It means incredibly much and really supports me more than you can imagine. Favorites motivate me almost as much as reviews.

This story has 76 reviews... That is far beyond anything I imagined possible for any of my stories, but you all made it happen! Thank you so inordinately much! While I can't write down everyone who reviewed, I want to give special thanks to a few people who reviewed every single chapter, or almost every chapter. So here goes.

The most thanks of all to VeronicaWeasley, Number Ten, Abby-E-Potter, sunflowerrss, TUCfan, and Vfdagent! Your reviews really are what made this story possible. I couldn't be more thankful that you reviewed so much!

Thank you so much for reading Out on the Road!


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